TRUE 
OF GREAT 



STORIES' 

AMERICANS 





CAPTAl 
JOHN SMITF 



mOSSITER JOHNSO 



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Copyright Is' 



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COPYRIGOT DEPOSIT. 



TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 




Captain John Smith. 

From the statue by William Couper. Unveiled on Jamestown Island. 
Virginia, September, 1907. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

(1579-1631) 



BY 

ROSSITER JOHNSON 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

All rights reserved 






28 



Copyright, 1915, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1915. 



Nortoooti ^ttii 

J. 8. Cashing Co. — Berwick «fe Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



APR 161915 



b:^ 



3-> 
J 



^ CONTENTS 



s- 



CHAPTER I 

PACK 

His Early Years i 



CHAPTER II 
Soldier and Traveler 5 

CHAPTER III 
The Siege of Regal 17 

CHAPTER IV 
War in Transylvania 25 

CHAPTER V 
Captured and Enslaved 30 

CHAPTER VI 
Travel and Piracy 37 

CHAPTER VII 
Early Attempts in America 46 

CHAPTER VIII 
The First Virginia Company 55 

V 



VI CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

Jamestown Founded 64 

CHAPTER X 
Prisoner to the Indians 73 

CHAPTER XI 
At Powhatan's Capital 85 

CHAPTER XII 
Captain Newport Arrives 93 

CHAPTER XIII 
Trouble with the Indians 113 

CHAPTER XIV 
Exploring Chesapeake Bay 121 

CHAPTER XV 
Coronation of Powhatan 138 

CHAPTER XVI 
A Famous Letter 145 

CHAPTER XVII 
Murderous Plots 153 



CONTENTS vu 

CHAPTER XVIII 

PAGB 

Discipline 162 

CHAPTER XIX 
A New Charter 166 

CHAPTER XX 
New Ventures 172 

CHAPTER XXI 
Smith's Last Years 186 

Index 191 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Statue of Captain John Smith 

Portrait of Captain John Smith 
Jamestown Tower 
Statue of Pocahontas . 
Portrait of Pocahontas 
Pocahontas Memorial Window 



Frontispiece * 

FACING PAGE 

182 , 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

CHAPTER I 
His Early Years 

Captain John Smith, of whom Thomas Jeffer- 
son said that he was, "next to Raleigh, the founder 
of Virginia," was one of the most extraordinary 
characters of either ancient or modern times. 
His varied fortunes, far-scattered scenes of action, 
and dangerous adventures, with his enormous en- 
ergy, unfailing courage, and extraordinary execu- 
tive ability, make the story of his life a romance 
that needs no fancy touches for its completion. 

For some parts of the story we have only his 
own word, and therefore certain critical writers 
have thrown doubt upon its truth. But there 
are many bits of history that depend upon the 
word of one person; and when explorers return 
to us from unknown lands, we seldom question 
the truth of their narrative, though it tells 
of wonders we never had imagined. Moreover, 



2 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

those parts of Captain Smith's career that are 
told by other witnesses present adventures quite 
as extraordinary and a character quite as masterly 
as he himself has shown in the parts that depend 
solely on his own word. Let us therefore take 
him in good faith, and walk with him, ride with 
him, sail with him, fight with him, suffer with 
him, from his uneasy boyhood in Lincolnshire 
till his quiet leave of life in London at the age of 
fifty-two — the same span of life that was en- 
joyed by his great contemporary, William Shake- 
speare. 

John Smith was born in the little village of 
Willoughby, England, in sight of the North Sea, 
in January, 1579. His parents were in humble 
circumstances, yet not so poor but that his father 
left an estate large enough to tempt John's guard- 
ians to get rid of him that they might enjoy it 
themselves. He was sent to the free schools of 
Louth and Alford, not far away, and acquired 
what we should call a good common-school edu- 
cation. 

But a desire for travel and adventure appears 
to have been born in him — probably increased 
by his familiarity with sailors and fishermen and 
the great sea. In his fourteenth year he sold 
his schoolbooks and was about to run away in 



HIS EARLY YEARS 3 

search of adventures; but before he got away 
from the village his father died, and this caused 
him to remain to enjoy the property that he in- 
herited. As he was not yet of age, he had to 
have guardians to take care of him and his estate. 
They appear to have had more care for the estate 
than for the boy, as they allowed him only a very 
small amount of pocket money, and the next year 
they bound him out as an apprentice to a trades- 
man named Tendall, in Lynn. Here he was 
fifty miles from the home of his childhood, but he 
was even nearer the sea than he had been, and 
its fascination grew upon him. He besought his 
master to send him to sea, and when this was 
refused he ran away. 

After some wanderings, he found an opportunity 
to go to France as a servant to a son of Lord 
Willoughby, who was an eminent commander in 
the wars. There were many European wars in 
that day ; nearly every country on that continent 
was involved in some bloody struggle. The 
desire for liberty and responsible government 
had begun to assert itself, and despotism was 
dying hard. 

After a few weeks of this service, in which he 
traveled over a great part of France, Smith was 
dismissed and made his way to his old home. 



4 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

But he was not wanted there, as his guardians 
preferred to have the use of his property for them- 
selves. They therefore gave him a small amount 
of money — what would be about twenty-five dol- 
lars in our day — and sent him abroad again. 

This time he went to Paris, where he led a some- 
what aimless Hfe, until he made the acquaintance 
of a Scotchman named David Hume — probably a 
distant kinsman of the David Hume who is now 
famous as a historian. When his money was al- 
most spent, Hume gave him letters to King James 
VI of Scotland (afterward James I of England), 
and Smith set out to return once more to Great 
Britain. But the spirit of adventure was his ruling 
passion, and there was no promise of adventure 
for him in his native land. He went to Havre de 
Grace and determined to be a soldier, but was dis- 
appointed by the peace that was established be- 
tween France and Spain. 



CHAPTER II 

Soldier and Traveler 

Smith was now in his twentieth year, and being 
determined to have at least a taste of military life, 
he enlisted in an independent company of soldiers of 
fortune, or free lances, as they were called — those 
who would fight for any cause, or on any side, that 
paid the best. With this company he spent three 
years in the Netherlands, where the Dutch were 
still struggling for complete independence from 
Spain. But he appears not to have risen to any 
noteworthy rank, when he left that country and 
sailed for Scotland. The ship was wrecked on the 
coast of Northumberland, and Smith, escaping, 
but feeble, lay ill for some time in the Holy Isle. 

The proper name of this island is Lindisfarne; 
it is in the North Sea, about ten miles from Berwick. 
At high tide it is an island two miles from the main- 
land ; but at low tide one can walk across on the 
sandy neck. It has an area of about four square 
miles, a part of it covered by sand dunes, the re- 
mainder being fertile soil. There is a small harbor, 

5 



6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

a little village, a fine old castle, and the ruins of an 
ancient abbey. It is called th Holy Isle because 
this abbey was founded by a company of monks 
in the seventh century and became famous. In the 
tenth century the building was ruined by an in- 
vasion of Danes, and the monks were scattered. 
The island is now a popular resort for sea bathing. 
Several other islands have been called Holy Isle — 
notably Guernsey and Rugen — but none so 
widely known as this. 

As soon as Smith was able he proceeded to Scot- 
land, landing at Leith, near Edinburgh, and pre- 
sented his letters. He had a cordial reception at 
court ; but Hfe in court circles is expensive, and he 
had no money. Therefore he was obHged to re- 
turn once more to his native town, where he found 
so Httle that interested him that he determined to 
try the Hfe of a hermit. He discovered a pleasant 
glade in the heart of a forest, and there built for 
himself a rude hut. He had taken his horse with 
him, and his exercise consisted in imitating the 
tournament exercises of knights in the Middle 
Ages. He had also taken a few books, and he tells 
us that his favorite authors were Marcus Aurelius 
and Machiavelli. This makes us smile a Httle, 
as if he were taking a poison and an antidote at 
the same time — Marcus Aurelius being not only 



SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 7 

the best of the Roman Emperors but perhaps the 
most spiritual and Fincerely pious of all the heathen 
writers, while the very name of Machiavelli, the 
Itahan statesman, has given us a word for craft, 
cunning, and cruelty. 

Smith had probably had as much of this quiet 
life as a tireless and roving spirit like his could en- 
dure, when he fell in with an Itahan named Theo- 
dore Palaloga, an interesting man, who was a 
retainer of the Earl of Lincoln. They went to- 
gether to Tattershall, near Boston, a Lincolnshire 
seaport, where the Earl had a castle, and Smith 
appears to have expected to be taken into the Earl's 
service. But in this he was disappointed, and he 
betook himself once more to the Netherlands in 
search of employment and adventure. 

Then he became acquainted with three French- 
men of the kind that we call "confidence men." 
They assumed high characters, and pretended that 
they could put him into military service advan- 
tageously. It seems strange that so able a man, 
who already had seen much of the world, could be 
deceived by such characters ; but so it was, and he 
sailed with them for France. When the vessel 
arrived there, they went ashore first, taking Smith's 
baggage with them ; and when he was able to land, 
some time later — for the captain of the vessel was a 



8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

confederate of the confidence men and held him back 
— they had disappeared, taking with them nearly all 
his possessions. This left him nothing to do but 
go about, trying to make friends and looking for 
an opportunity to ship on board a man-of-war. 
In those forlorn days he had one comfort, however. 
By chance he met one of the three robbers, in a 
lonely place, and Smith immediately drew his 
sword and compelled the fellow to fight for his fife. 
The combat ended — as it should have ended, 
both in justice and in romance — by Smith's giving 
the robber a serious wound. 

The Earl of Ployer, who had lived in England, 
befriended Smith and gave him money, and he then 
traveled extensively in France, being interested in 
the people, the natural scenery, the forts and the 
castles. When he arrived at Marseilles, on the 
Mediterranean, he took passage in a ship for Italy ; 
and from this he met with one of his most surpris- 
ing adventures. Stormy weather came on, and 
was so severe that the captain was afraid to proceed, 
so he ran the vessel to the sheltered side of the httle, 
uninhabited island of St. Mary. Still the bad 
weather continued, and many of the passengers 
became impatient. Among them was a company 
of pilgrims going to Rome. These blamed Smith 
for the delay, saying he was a Huguenot, and there- 



SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 9 

fore very bad, and they could hope for no better 
weather while he was on board. They therefore 
threw him into the sea, as Jonah was thrown 
(Jonah i, 15). But he was a powerful swimmer 
and he got ashore on the island, and the next day 
a merchantman that arrived and anchored there 
took him on board. We do not read that the pil- 
grims obtained any better weather by casting 
Smith into the sea. 

On board the merchantman Smithes conversa- 
tion proved so interesting that he quickly won the 
heart of the commander. Captain La Roche, and 
they became fast friends. They passed down the 
western coast of Italy, stopping at several ports, 
sailed among the Grecian isles, and then cast anchor 
in the Strait of Otranto. Here Smith discovered 
that the ship he was on had a double character — 
merchantman and pirate. She waited there till 
a richly laden vessel from Venice appeared. Cap- 
tain La Roche hailed her and asked to speak ; but 
the Venetian, who guessed correctly what La Roche 
wanted, answered with a shot, which killed one 
man of the pirate's crew. La Roche then opened 
with broadsides, which were answered in kind, 
until La Roche had lost fifteen men and the Vene- 
tian twenty, whose ship also was so badly damaged 
that she was likely to sink. She surrendered there- 



lo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

fore, and the pirates made haste to take off the most 
valuable parts of her cargo, and worked at it a day 
and a night. They obtained velvets and other 
costly cloths in abundance and considerable gold 
and silver money; and Smith says they then let 
her go, having still as much cargo as would have 
loaded the pirate ship again. He appears to have 
had no scruples about assisting in this robbery and 
accepting a share of the booty thus obtained — 
five hundred sequins, about twelve hundred dollars 
— and what he calls ''a Httle box worth nearly as 
much more." When the return voyage was made 
he landed at Antibes, in France. In those days 
piracy, as well as some other evil practices, was not 
held in abhorrence, and afterward Smith's colony 
in Virginia suffered indirectly from it, because ships 
that were sent out with much-needed provisions, 
instead of going directly to their destination, sailed 
off southward, cruising in the West Indies to cap- 
ture some richly laden Spanish galleon. 

With so much money in hand — which probably 
had as much purchasing power as five thousand 
dollars would have to-day — Smith could do no 
less than indulge his passion for travel. He went 
into Italy as far south as Naples, visited all the 
cities, and records his interest in nearly everything 
that he saw. 



SOLDIER AND TRAVELER ii 

He then made his way to Gratz, the capital of 
Styria, in eastern Austria-Hungary, a fine old city, 
in and around which armies contended at various 
times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. 
With his talent for making friends rapidly. Smith 
soon added to his Hst an Englishman and an Irish 
priest, and through them he came to the notice of 
Baron Kissell, a commander of artillery, who sent 
him to Vienna, where he enlisted in a regiment 
commanded by the Earl of Meldritch. This was the 
beginning of his longest and most important mili- 
tary experience. The Turks were invading Europe, 
and German armies were confronting them in Hun- 
gary. The town of Olumpagh (or Olimacum), near 
Lake Flatten, was closely besieged by a strong 
Turkish force, and General KisselFs first duty was 
to relieve it. Here, according to his own story, 
first came into play Smith's varied ingenuity. 
He had invented a system of signaHng with torches, 
and by good fortune he had explained it to Lord 
Ebersbraugh when he made his acquaintance in 
Gratz, and Ebersbraugh was now in command in the 
besieged city. 

This system was very simple. The letters from 
A to L were numbered (i to 12), and also those from 
M to Z (i to 14). The first set were represented by 
a single torch, the second set by two torches, and 



12 CAPTMN JOHN SMITH 

the number of times the torches were raised and 
lowered indicated the letter. Thus, for D a single 
torch would be raised and lowered four times. For 
O two torches would be raised and lowered three 
times. Three torches were raised and lowered to 
signify "this is the end of a word.'^ 

Smith explained this system to General Kissell 
and to the Earl of Meldritch, who had brought his 
regiment to assist Kissell's artillery. They adopted 
it, and sent Smith, with a party, to a neighboring 
hill to communicate with the besieged garrison. 
They soon got a reply, and then, by their signals, 
told Ebersbraugh the plan that had been formed 
for his relief. As Kissell had only ten thousand 
men to meet the Turks, he needed the assistance 
of the garrison, which was to sally out when he at- 
tacked; and full instructions to that effect were 
given to Ebersbraugh by means of the torches. 
The attack was to be made on the Turks at one 
side of the town, and Smith devised a means of 
making them think it was to be on the opposite 
side. To long lines he fastened bits of match with 
a little powder, and after dark these lines were fas- 
tened to stakes that held them breast high, in a 
plain on that side of the town. At a signal these 
were fired, and the Turks, supposing the flashes 
were from musketry, prepared to meet an attack 



SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 13 

from that side. Then Ebersbraugh and his garri- 
son sallied out on the other side and joined KisselFs 
forces for a determined sudden attack on the 
Turks in their trenches, all of whom were either 
killed or put to flight. Then Kissell's men marched 
into the town; and the Turks on the other side, 
who had been deceived by Smith's stratagem, 
abandoned the siege and marched away. For 
his part in this success, Smith was made a captain. 

Both sides now prepared for a more vigorous 
prosecution of the war. The Turks brought up 
heavy reenforcements, and the Emperor Rudolph 
II organized three armies to meet them. One of 
these armies was led by the Due de Mercoeur, whom 
Captain Smith calls Duke of Mercury, and num- 
bered about thirty thousand men. The first task 
set for this army — which included the Earl of 
Meldritch's regiment, in which Captain Smith 
served — was to besiege Alba Regalis, a strong 
place held by the Turks. Here the fighting was 
frequent and serious, as the besieged Turks made 
many sallies and sometimes gained partial victories. 

Here again Captain Smith's ingenuity came into 
play, and he invented what he called his ^' fiery 
dragons." He gave this name to certain earthen 
pots, forty or fifty of them, which he filled with 
gunpowder, brimstone, turpentine, and other sub- 



14 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

stances that are extremely dangerous in connection 
with fire. The mass contained bullets as well. 
The whole pot was then covered with a cloth so 
smeared with wax, oil, and brimstone that the mass 
was highly inflammable. When it was ready to 
launch at the enemy , it was set on fire, and then woe 
to those who were in its vicinity a few moments later ! 
For these ''fiery dragons " he placed in slings as near 
as he could get to those quarters of the town where, 
as he had learned from escaping Christians, were 
usually the greatest assemblages of Turks. At 
midnight, on a signal, these strange missiles were 
thrown into the town, and Captain Smith says it 
was ''a perfect sight to see the short flaming course 
of their flight in the air, but presently after their 
fall the lamentable noise of the miserable slaugh- 
tered Turks was most wonderful to hear.'' 

At the opposite side of the city was a fortified 
suburb, specially protected by a shallow lake. A 
night attack at this point was planned; and by 
throwing into the lake great bundles of brush they 
made a sort of rough road or causeway, so that the 
soldiers were able to cross it and surprise the enemy. 
Captain Smith's narrative thus describes the ac- 
tion : ''The city, of no such strength as the sub- 
urbs, with their own ordnance [cannon] was so 
battered that it was taken perforce, with such 



SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 15 

merciless execution as was most pitiful to behold. 
The Bashaw notwithstanding drew together a party 
of five hundred before his own palace, where he in- 
tended to die ; but seeing most of his men slain be- 
fore him by the vahant Captain Earl Meldritch, 
who took him prisoner with his own hands and with 
the hazard of himself saved him from the fury of 
other troops, that did pull down his palace and 
would have rent him in pieces had he not been thus 
preserved. The Duke thought his victory much 
honored with such a prisoner, and took order he 
should be used like a prince." 

The victorious army not only occupied the city 
but put it into a state of repair, which it badly 
needed after being in the possession of the Turks 
for sixty years. 

Meanwhile a large Turkish army was on its way 
to relieve the garrison just defeated, or to retake 
the city. The army in which Captain Smith was 
serving promptly marched out to meet this new 
force, and there was fierce fighting in the plain of 
Girke. Here Captain Smith was wounded and his 
horse was killed. After this, the Christian army 
was divided ; a part of it went westward to assist 
at the siege of Caniza, and the Earl of Meldritch 
with six thousand men marched more than a hun- 
dred miles eastward into Transylvania, where 



i6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

there was a tangled dispute as to the right of gov- 
ernment, and this had given the Turks an oppor- 
tunity to estabhsh themselves there. Prince Sigis- 
mund Battori was struggling to drive them out, 
and Meldritch joined him, with an understanding 
that his men should have all the property they 
could capture from the Turks. 



CHAPTER III 

The Siege of Regal 

As the country had been in a distracted state for 
several years, it happened that there were various 
armed bands — guerrillas, we should call them — 
having each its little stronghold in the hills. Some 
were apparently devoted to the Emperor Rudolph, 
some to the claims of Sigismund, some were Tartars, 
some Turks, and some simply bandits. By skillful 
movements the Earl drove many of these to take 
refuge in a fortified town in the plain of Regal, to 
which, after a battle, he laid siege. He had seven- 
teen thousand men and a train of artillery which he 
mounted as siege guns. While the besiegers were 
patiently working at their preparations for attack, 
and the besieged were deriding their slowness, the 
Turkish commander in the fortress sent out a chal- 
lenge which Captain Smith thus reports : "To de- 
light the ladies, who did long to see some courtlike 
pastime, the Lord Turbishaw did defy any captain 
that had the command of a company, who durst 
combat with him for his head." 
c 17 



i8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Lots were drawn to determine who should be 
the champion of the besiegers and meet Turbishaw 
in single combat, and the choice fell upon Captain 
Smith. Everything was arranged much as we read 
of tournaments in the Middle Ages. The be- 
sieging army was drawn up on the plain, and the 
ramparts were occupied by soldiers and ladies who 
would look down upon the contest. The Bashaw, 
mounted on a fine horse, rode out to the sound of 
music, and exhibited himself gorgeously attired and 
wearing wings on his shoulders made of eagle feathers 
set in silver. One soldier walked before him carry- 
ing his lance, and two others attended on either side 
of his horse. Captain Smith, with a flourish of 
trumpets, rode out to meet him, accompanied only 
by one man to carry his lance. After the usual 
courteous salute, the signal was given, and at the 
first onset Captain Smith drove his lance straight 
through his opponent and threw him to the ground. 
Then he dismounted, unbuckled the Bashaw's 
helmet, and cut off his head. 

A friend of the Bashaw's named Groalgo then 
challenged Captain Smith to fight with him, his 
object being to regain the Bashaw's head, and his 
offer being that his own head and his horse and ar- 
mor should belong to Smith if he proved victorious. 
This proposal was accepted. The men first charged 



THE SIEGE OF REGAL 19 

with lances, and, when these were broken, used 
their pistols. A shot disabled the Turk's bridle 
arm, so that he could no longer manage his horse, 
and then Captain Smith threw him off, and got his 
head, his horse, and his armor. But he at once 
gave back to the Turk's friends all but the head. 
This was in accordance with their ideas of chivalry, 
to show that he was not fighting, for plunder, but 
only for military glory and the success of his com- 
mander. The result of these two duels — so un- 
expected — sobered the Turks, who sent no more 
challenges. But Smith now became challenger in 
his turn. In his quaint language he tells us how and 
why he did it: "To delude time. Smith, with so 
many incontradictible persuading reasons, obtained 
leave that the ladies might know he was not so much 
enamored of their servants' heads but if any Turk 
of their rank would come to the place of combat 
to redeem them, should have also his, upon like 
conditions, if he could win it." 

This challenge was accepted, and the champion 
who was sent out to meet it was named Bonny 
Mulgro. It has always been a rule, in dueling, 
that the man who is challenged has the privilege 
of naming the weapons to be used. Captain Mul- 
gro (he must have been at least a captain, as 
Smith required an antagonist of equal rank) would 



20 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

not fight with lances, for he had seen that Smith 
was master of that weapon; and he himself was 
expert in wielding a battle-ax. Therefore he chose 
battle-axes, pistols, and swords. 

The next day was the time named for the fight, 
and, as before, there was an interested crowd of 
spectators on each side. The Turks felt confident 
that their champion would be triumphant this time, 
and he himself showed by his bearing that he had 
no doubt as to the result. 

The combatants, who were on horseback, rushed 
together when the signal was given by a flourish of 
the trumpet. They fired their pistols at the same 
instant, but neither was hit. Then they swung 
their battle-axes and gave blow for blow in rapid 
succession. It seemed every minute as if skulls 
must be split or arms lopped off, until Mulgro, by 
a lucky stroke, knocked Smith's ax out of his hand. 
Then the Turks, thinking the contest was virtually 
ended, broke out into tremendous cheering. But 
Smith, suddenly nerving himself for a final effort, 
managed his horse so as to avoid further blows, 
drew his sword, drove at his antagonist in a wild 
rush, and sent the blade straight through his body. 
Mulgro got off from his horse, but was able to stand 
only a few seconds, when he toppled over and was 
dead. Smith's description of the close of the 



THE SIEGE OF REGAL 21 

fight — a mingling of self-praise and acknowledg- 
ment of divine assistance — is characteristic. He 
says: "The Turk prosecuted his advantage to the 
utmost of his power, yet the other — what by the 
readiness of his horse, and his judgment and dex- 
terity in such a business beyond all men^s expecta- 
tions — by God's assistance not only avoided the 
Turk's violence but, having drawn his own falchion, 
pierced the Turk so under the cutlets through back 
and body that, although he alighted from his horse, 
he stood not long ere he lost his head, as the rest 
had done." 

For these exploits, Smith was summoned to the 
headquarters of the commanding general. He was 
escorted thither by four regiments ; and three sol- 
diers, each leading a horse, carried three Turks' 
heads on the point of their lances. The general 
welcomed him warmly, embraced him according to 
the custom of the time, and gave him a fine horse 
with costly trappings, a new sword, and a belt set 
with gems worth three hundred ducats (about $700). 
Smith also received promotion to the rank of major. 
And some time afterward, when Sigismund, Way- 
wode (Prince) of Transylvania, arrived at the seat 
of war and learned of these services, he gave Smith 
a patent (as it was called) authorizing him to bear 
a coat of arms in which the principal figure was 



22 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

three Turks' heads. To this, Sigismund added a 
miniature portrait of himself, set in gold, and 
promise of an annual pension of three hundred 
ducats. But from the ruin of his own fortunes he 
was not able to pay the pension very long. Smith 
says, however, that the Prince afterward gave him 
fifteen hundred ducats to make good his losses. 

When the twenty-six siege guns, by closer ap- 
proaches and incessant firing for fifteen days, had 
made great breaches in the walls of the city, an at- 
tack was made one dark night, and the German 
soldiers poured in through the breaches. The 
Turks were taken somewhat by surprise — at least 
their commander was. Smith tells it in this char- 
acteristic way: ''Their slothful governor lay in 
a castle on top of a high mountain, and, Kke a val- 
iant prince, asketh 'What's the matter?' when 
horror and death stood amazed at each other, to 
see who should prevail to make him victorious." — 
There was heavy loss on both sides. 

Moyses ordered his entire force to make a deter- 
mined assault by rushing up the long slope in front 
of the tall promontory. This was the most danger- 
ous approach to the enemy, but if it could be made 
was likely to be the most successful. As the men 
marched up, the enemy rolled down upon them 
great logs, heavy bowlders, and even, at last, bags 



THE SIEGE OF REGAL 23 

of powder — anything they could get that would 
break the ranks and knock over the men. The 
commands of Barons Budendorpe and Oberwein 
lost about half of their men before they reached the 
top. 

Perhaps the Turks got their idea from the story 
of the famous battle of Morgarten, in Switzerland, 
nearly three centuries before, where the Swiss 
rolled down rocks upon the Austrian army passing 
through the valley, so that thirteen hundred were 
enabled to defeat about fourteen thousand. This 
was the first battle for Swiss independence, and 
every year it is celebrated in a chapel that has been 
built for the purpose in the valley. 

But in this battle the Turks were not so success- 
ful as the Swiss had been. Despite their great 
losses, the attacking troops moved up steadily 
till, as Smith expresses it, they ''advanced to the 
push of the pike,'' that is, fought hand to hand. 
The Turks were equally brave and fought them 
steadily, till fresh regiments came up, commanded 
by Earl Meldritch, Becklefield, and Zarvana, and 
joined furiously in the fight. Then the Turks 
gave way and fled into the castle. Here they hung 
out a white flag and asked for terms of surrender. 

General Moyses refused any terms, kept up the 
fight, and finally completely overcame the Turks. 



24 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Then all the surviving men of the garrison were 
killed, and their heads were fastened to stakes and 
displayed on the walls. This was done because the 
Turks, when they captured the city, had treated 
the Christian garrison in that same way. Smith 
says: "Moyses, having repaired the ramparts and 
thrown down the works in his camp, put in it a 
strong garrison. Though the pillage he had gotten 
in the town was much, it having been for a long 
time an impregnable den of thieves, yet the loss of 
the army so intermingled the sour with the sweet 
as forced Moyses to seek a further revenge, that he 
sacked Veratio, Solmos, Kupronka, and with two 
thousand prisoners, mostly women and children, 
came to Esenberg, not far from the Prince's palace, 
where he encamped." 



CHAPTER IV 

War in Transylvania 

Soon thereafter military affairs in those prov- 
inces became as badly tangled as they were after 
the war with the Turks in 19 13 — more than three 
centuries later. Factions were at war with one 
another in the beautiful territory of Transylvania, 
and Emperor Rudolph sent a powerful army to 
subdue them. General Moyses met this army, 
but was defeated, and then, with many of his troops, 
went over to the Turks. But Earl Meldritch's 
regiment, with which Smith was still serving, re- 
mained loyal to the Emperor. The Sultan of 
Turkey appointed a waywode (prince, governor) 
of Wallachia, whose rule was so oppressive that 
there was a popular insurrection against it and he 
fled to Moldavia. Then Lord Rodoll (German) 
was made Waywode of Wallachia, but he had to 
fight for possession of the country, as the Turkish 
Waywode returned with an army. The struggle 
was very severe, and there were barbarous practices 
on both sides. On one occasion, when Meldritch's 

25 



26 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

force was entrapped and surrounded, so that it 
must either perish wholly or cut its way through the 
enemy, Captain Smith's ingenuity came again to 
the rescue. He covered several hundred branches 
of trees, or bushes, with wildfire and fixed them on 
the heads of the soldiers' lances, and in the night 
the troops boldly charged with these. The fire 
frightened the Turkish horses and made them un- 
manageable, which enabled the Christians to pass 
through on their way to a junction with Rudolph's 
forces at Rottenton. 

But while this army was still distant eight or ten 
miles from its destination it was overtaken and 
attacked by a Turkish army of forty thousand, and 
the most destructive battle of the campaign re- 
sulted in a complete victory for the Turks. Smith's 
own description of it is better than any that can be 
written now. He says : — 

^^In the valley of the Veristhorne, betwixt the 
river of Altus and the mountains of Rottenton, 
was this bloody encounter, where most of the dear- 
est friends of the noble Prince Sigismund perished. 
Meldritch ordered his eleven thousand in the best 
manner he could. At the foot of the mountain, 
upon his flanks and before his front, he pitched 
sharp stakes, their heads hardened in the fire, and 
bent against the enemy, as three battalions of piles ; 



WAR IN TRANSYLVANIA 27 

amongst the which also there were digged many 
small holes. Amongst those stakes were ranged 
his footmen, that upon the charge were to retire 
as there was occasion. 

''The Tartar, having ordered his forty thousand 
for his best advantage, appointed Mustapha Ba- 
shaw to begin the battle with a general shout, all 
their ensigns displaying, drums beating, trumpets 
and hautboys sounding. Nederspolt and Mavazo, 
with their regiments of horse, most vaUantly en- 
countered and forced them to retire. The Tartar 
Begolgi, with his squadrons, darkening the skies with 
their flights of numberless arrows, was as bravely 
encountered by Veltus and Oberwein, which bloody 
slaughter continued more than an hour, till the 
matchless multitude of the Tartars so increased 
that they retired within their squadrons of stakes, 
as was directed. 

"The bloody Tartar, as scorning he should stay 
so long for victory, with his massive troops prose- 
cuted the charge. But it was a wonder to see how 
horse and man came to the ground among the stakes 
whose disordered troops were there so mangled 
that the Christians, with a loud shout, cried 'Vic- 
toria ! ' and with five or six field pieces planted upon 
the rising of the mountain did much hurt to the 
enemy that still continued the battle with that 



28 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

fury that Meldritch, seeing there was no possibility 
long to prevail, joined his small troops in one body, 
resolved directly to make his passage or die in the 
conclusion, and thus in gross [all together] gave a 
general charge and for more than half an hour 
made his way plain before him, till the main battle 
of the Crim Tartar, with two regiments of Turks 
and Janizaries, so overmatched them that they 
were overthrown. The night approaching, the 
Earl with thirteen or fourteen hundred horse swam 
the river. Some were drowned, all the rest were 
slain or taken prisoners. Thus in this bloody 
field near thirty thousand men perished. 

''In this dismal battle, where many Earls, 
Barons, Colonels, Captains, brave gentlemen and 
soldiers, were slain, give me leave to remember the 
names of our own countrymen with him [Captain 
Smith] in those exploits, that, as resolutely as the 
best, in defense of Christ and his gospel, ended their 
days — as, Baskerfield, Hardwicke, Thomas Mile- 
mer, Robert Multineux, Thomas Bishop, Francis 
Compton, George Davison, Nicholas Williams, and 
one John, a Scot, did what men could do, and, 
when they could do no more, left their bodies in 
testimony of their minds. Only Ensign Carleton 
and Sergeant Robinson escaped. 

"But Smith among the slaughtered dead bodies 



WAR IN TRANSYLVANIA 29 

and many a gasping soul, with toil and wounds 
lay groaning among the rest, till, being found by 
the pillagers, he was able to live ; and perceiving by 
his armor and habit that his ransom might be better 
to them than his death, they led him prisoner with 
many others. Well they used him till his wounds 
were cured ; and at Axopolis they were all sold for 
slaves, like beasts in a market-place, where every 
merchant, viewing their limbs and wounds, caused 
other slaves to struggle with them to try their 
strength. He [Smith] fell to the share of Bogall 
Bashaw, who sent him forthwith to Adrianople, so 
for Constantinople to his fair mistress for a slave. 
By twenty and twenty chained by the necks, they 
marched in file to this great city, where they were 
delivered to their several masters, and he to the 
young Charatza Tragabigzanda." 



CHAPTER V 
Captured and Enslaved 

The young lady to whom Captain Smith had 
been presented as a slave became very much inter- 
ested in him and was curious to know his history. 
As both she and Smith spoke Italian, it was easy 
for them to converse ; and she took so much de- 
light in the story of his adventures that she made 
excuses for not leaving him. She would pretend to 
feeling ill, so that she could not go to the baths with 
the other ladies, or to weep over the graves of their 
friends. To us it does not seem much of a conces- 
sion to give up so mournful a pleasure, though it 
was doubtless one of the customs of her country. 
She asked Smith whether he was really a Bohemian 
lord, as Bogall Bashaw had told her, and how it was 
that Bogall took him prisoner; and when he in- 
formed her that he was no Bohemian lord, but a 
plain Englishman, and that Bogall, instead of cap- 
turing him in battle, had simply bought him at Ax- 
opolis, she had no further use for Bogall. And she 
tested Smith's story by inquiring of others who 
spoke English, Dutch, or Italian, and who had been 

30 



CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 31 

associated with him in the army ; and they all told 
her that his story was true. Then she found she 
had no work for Smith, and she was afraid that her 
mother would sell him — for she was not yet of age 
and could not own any property. She therefore 
sent him to her brother, Tymor Bashaw, at Nalbrits 
in Tartaria. And she wrote to her brother, asking 
him to treat Smith kindly, to let him learn the 
Turkish language, and to keep him till she should 
come of age. It appears that the brother suspected 
that she meant to marry Smith when he should have 
become a Turk ; and that he did not approve of 
any such plan. He therefore treated Smith very 
cruelly; he had his head and beard shaved, put 
around his neck an iron ring with a long, bowed 
stake attached to it, and made him wear a coat of 
goat's hair. Tymor had nearly a hundred slaves, 
and Smith was treated the most harshly of all. 
Captain Smith's narrative of his journey to Nal- 
brits is interesting, though some of the places that 
he mentions can not now be found on the map. 
Either he mistook the names or misremembered 
them, or they have been changed. Of course he 
was not in condition to make notes as he went 
along. We can only take the story as he wrote it. 
He says — speaking of himself, as usual, in the third 
person : — 



32 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

"In all this journey, having little more liberty 
than his eyes^ judgment since his captivity, he 
might see the towns with their short towers, and a 
most plain, fertile, and deHcate country, especially 
that most admired place of Greece now called Rou- 
mania ; but from Varna nothing but the Black Sea 
water, till he came to the two Capes of Taur and 
Pergilos, where he passed the Strait of Niger, 
which (as he conjectured) is some ten leagues long 
and three broad, betwixt two low lands. The 
channel is deep, but at the entrance of the Sea 
Dissabacca there are many great shoals and many 
great black rocks, which the Turks said were trees, 
weeds, and mud, thrown from the inland countries 
by the inundations and violence of the current and 
cast there by the eddy. They sailed by many low 
isles, and saw many more of those muddy rocks, 
and nothing else but salt water, till they came be- 
twixt Susax and Curuske, only two white towns at 
the entrance of the river Bruapo appeared. 

"In six or seven days' sail he saw four or five 
seeming strong castles of stone, with flat tops and 
battlements about them ; but arriving at Gambia, 
he was — according to their custom — well used. 
The river was there more than half a mile broad. 
The castle was of a large circumference, [the walls] 
fourteen or fifteen feet thick in the foundation; 




(ZX^e atetheZmeS ihatjhtw thyToCCihut^ofc 
nhatPicw -thy Grace ami ff lory, hryhter he : 
dlty JF'airC'J>ilcotunes anl :Fowtc-Overtlirowes 
of Salyaaes,muck CiviUidJ, hy t/vccx,^ 
^cjijkcw thy Sjirkjand to it Glory (Wyi 
SoitkotL artBraf?c without, hut 0otac WiSiitL 

Courtesij of The Centttn/ Co. 

Captain John Smith, Admiral of New England. 



CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 33 

some six feet from the wall is a palisade, and then 
a ditch about forty feet broad, full of water. On 
the west side of it is a town, all of low, flat houses, 
which, as he conceived, could be of no great strength, 
yet it keeps all those barbarous countries about 
it in admiration and subjection. 

"After he had staid there three days, it was two 
days more before his guides brought him to Nal- 
brits, where Tymor then was resident in a great, 
vast stony castle with many great courts about it, 
environed with high stone walls where were 
quartered their arms when they first subjected those 
countries, which only live to labor for those tyran- 
nical Turks." 

After describing the various foods and drinks of 
the masters, he says the slaves and other working 
people were fed almost entirely on a peculiar broth. 
Some of this broth they tempered with cuskus 
pounded, and, putting the fire off from the hearth, 
poured there a bowlful, then covered it with coals 
till it was baked, and this, stewed with the re- 
mainder of the broth and small pieces of flesh, was 
considered an extraordinary dainty. 

Of the clothing of the Tartars, Smith gives this 
picturesque description: — "The better sort are 
attired like Turks, but the plain Tartar hath a 
black sheepskin over his back, and two of the legs 

D 



34 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

tied about his neck, the other two about his middle, 
and the legs tied in like manner behind him ; then 
two more, made like a pair of vases, serve him for 
breeches; with a little close cap to his skull, of 
black felt. And they use exceeding much of this 
felt for carpets, for bedding, for coats, and for 
idols." 

Of their way of life he tells us: — "The inland 
countries have no houses but carts and tents, which 
they ever remove from country to country, as they 
see occasion, driving with them infinite troops of 
black sheep, cattle, and goats, eating up all before 
them as they go. For the Tartars of Nagi, they 
have neither town nor house, corn nor drink, but 
flesh and milk. They live all in a kind of villages, 
called hordias, three or four hundred in a company, 
in great carts fifteen or sixteen feet broad. Each 
hordia hath an officer whom they obey as their 
king. One or two thousand of those glittering 
white carts drawn with camels, deer, bulls and 
goats, they bring round in a ring where they pitch 
their camp, and the officer, with his chief alliances, 
is placed in the midst." 

Captain Smithes escape from captivity was re- 
markable. He never had had any hope of deliver- 
ance except through Tragabigzanda's interest in 
him, and this hope was feeble, as she probably did 



CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 35 

not know how he was suffering. He often discussed 
the question of escaping with several Christians 
who had been a long time in captivity, but they 
could not suggest any way of escape. After a time 
he became a thresher at a grange in a large field 
more than three miles from Tymor's house. The 
Bashaw often made the round of his granges, to see 
for himself how the work was carried on and to 
punish any of the laborers that had not done as 
much as he thought they should. On one occasion 
he found fault with Captain Smith's work, called 
him vile names, and beat him severely. This was 
more than a man like Smith could bear. The 
threshing there was done, not with the light flail 
that we are familiar with, but with a heavy bat. 
Suddenly raising this. Smith brought it down on 
the head of the Bashaw and killed him. He then 
dressed himself in Tymor's garments, hid the body 
under the straw, filled his knapsack with wheat, 
closed the doors, mounted a horse, and rode away. 
He rode three days through a wilderness without 
meeting any person, and then, by good fortune, 
came upon a great highway called Castragan, 
which runs a long distance through that region. 
At every crossing there was a signpost, with arms 
pointing different ways, and on every arm, instead 
of words (for not many of the inhabitants could 



36 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

read), there was a picture to show where that road 
would lead. Thus the arm that pointed toward 
the country of the Crim Tartars bore a picture of a 
half -moon. That which pointed toward Persia 
showed a black man with white spots. That 
which pointed toward China had a picture of the 
sun; and that which pointed toward Muscovia 
was marked with a cross. All these were known 
to the people as prominent figures in the banners 
of the various countries. 

Captain Smith, like the other slaves, wore an 
iron collar that was marked in a way to show whose 
slave he was, or on what plantation he belonged ; 
and had he met anybody in his wanderings, this 
would have been recognized and he probably would 
have been returned to slavery. At the end of six- 
teen days, following the sign of the cross, he arrived 
at Escopolis, on the River Don, where there was a 
military post with a garrison of Muscovites. The 
commander, called by Smith the governor, heard 
his story, questioned him, and then ordered his 
irons taken off and treated him kindly, while, as 
Smith remarks, ''the good Lady Callamata largely 
supplied all his wants." 



CHAPTER VI 

Travel and Piracy 

With letters from the governor, telling how he 
had found him, and bespeaking a friendly reception 
for him everywhere. Smith traveled through several 
provinces till he arrived at Hermonstat, in Tran- 
sylvania. He says of himself on this journey: 
"In all his life he seldom met with more respect, 
mirth, content, and entertainment; and not any 
governor where he came but gave him somewhat 
as a present, besides his charges — seeing them- 
selves as subject to the like calamity." This does 
not sound much like Goldsmith's picture of travel 
in those countries — 

" where the rude Carinthian boor 
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door." 

But Goldsmith's traveler did not have the advan- 
tage of passes and letters of introduction from a 
governor. 

It was not safe for single travelers to pass through 
those provinces. They had to go in caravans or 
large companies, sometimes with a guard of soldiers. 

37 



38 • CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

The region was very poor, with small villages here 
and there. The dwellings were log houses, one 
story high, made from the abundant fir trees, the 
roofs of which were of split boards fastened together 
with wooden pins, for iron nails were hardly known 
there. Some of the towns — Donko, Escopolis, 
and Letch, particularly — were fortified with double 
walls of logs, the space between being filled in with 
earth and stones. They were cross-timbered — as 
of course they had to be, or the pressure of the 
filling would have burst them — and were so strong 
that nothing but fire could destroy them. Outside 
the walls was a deep ditch, with a palisade of fir 
trees. Just why there should be such elaborate 
protection where there was so little to be protected, 
is a curious question. Yet we often see something 
like this in our own country. The poorest houses, 
which evidently contain nothing that any one 
would care to steal, are often guarded by fierce 
watchdogs. Smith tells us that other villages in 
that strange region, while less strongly protected, 
were surrounded by deep ditches, the earth from 
which formed a rude rampart, and palisades. Some 
of these fortifications were surmounted by a few 
small cannons and great slings for throwing stones ; 
and the inhabitants had a few muskets and many 
Russian bows and arrows. 



TRAVEL AND PIRACY 39 

Where the roads passed over boggy places, 
many of which were extensive, they were cordu- 
royed with fir logs. Smith says that, outside of 
the towns, he would hardly see six houses in two 
days' travel. Considering the poverty of the 
country, it surprised him to see how the lords, 
governors, and captains were civilized, well dressed 
and had jewels, furs, horses, and curiously wrought 
furniture. He remarks that the people were all 
either lords or slaves. 

Captain Smith passed through Hungary and 
Austria till he arrived at Lipswick, where he found 
his good friend. Prince Sigismund, who gave him 
letters telling what good services he had performed 
and what honors he had received, and gave him 
also fifteen hundred ducats — about $2500. The 
captain then traveled extensively in Germany, 
France, and Spain. 

"Being thus satisfied with Europe and Asia,'' 
as he says, he crossed into Africa, where he supposed 
a war was in progress and he might get mihtary 
employment. At the same time, he was always on 
the lookout for interesting things in architecture, 
history, and the customs of the people. He tells 
many curious stories of what he saw there, of which 
we have room for but one here: "The King's 
palace [in Morocco] is like a city in itself, and the 



40 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Christian church, on whose flat, square tower is a 
great branch of iron, whereon are placed the three 
golden balls of Africa. The first is near three ells 
in circumference, the next above it somewhat less, 
the uppermost the least over them, as it were an 
half ball, and over all a pretty, gilded pyramid. 
Against those golden balls hath been shot many a 
shot. Their weight is recorded seven hundred 
weight of pure gold, hollow within, yet no shot 
did ever hit them, nor could ever any conspirator 
attain that honor as to get them down. They re- 
peat that the Prince of Morocco betrothed himself 
to the King^s daughter of Ethiopia ; he dying before 
their marriage, she caused those three golden balls 
to be set up for his monument.'^ 

Captain Smith was not pleased with the condi- 
tion of military affairs in Morocco, and he appears 
not to have taken any part in them. He says that 
"by reason of the uncertainty and the perfidious, 
treacherous, bloody murders, rather than war, 
amongst those barbarous Moors, Smith returned 
with Merham and the rest to Saffee, and so aboard 
his ship, to try some other conclusions at sea." 

Captain Merham, who commanded a French 
man-of-war, invited Captain Smith and a few of his 
friends to go aboard, and there he entertained 
them handsomely until it was too late for them to 



TRAVEL AND PIRACY 41 

go ashore. Smith says it was a beautiful evening, 
but before midnight a great storm arose, so that 
they were obliged to slip their cable and go to sea. 
The storm continued until it had driven them south- 
ward to the Canary Islands. When it abated, 
Smith soon learned that the man-of-war on which 
he was serving was in reality a pirate ship, and 
the captain was cruising in search of plunder. The 
first prize that came their way was a small vessel, 
loaded with wine. When they had helped them- 
selves to this cargo, they chased several other 
vessels, and captured two; but from them they 
got Httle except the information that there were 
five Dutch men-of-war near the Islands. The 
captain therefore gave orders to sail for Bojadore, 
on the African coast. Before they arrived there, 
two vessels came in sight, and Captain Merham 
hailed them. They saluted courteously, said they 
were merchantmen in distress, and asked Merham to 
come aboard and take whatever he wanted. But 
Merham was too cunning to be deceived by them. 
He recognized them for Spanish men-of-war, and 
put his ship about very speedily, attempting to get 
away from them. But the Spaniards were the better 
sailers and soon overtook him. Smith, who calls 
the two Spanish ships the Admiral and the Vice 
Admiral, gives of the battle a pretty full account. 



42 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

*'Merham, the old fox, seeing himself in the 
lion's paws, sprang his luff; the other tacked 
after him and came up close on his nether quarter, 
gave his broadside, and so luffed up to windward. 
The Vice Admiral did the like, and at the next 
bout the Admiral, with a noise of trumpets, and 
all his ordnance, murderers, and muskets, boarded 
him on his broadside; the other in like manner 
on his lee quarter ; and it was so dark there was 
little light, but fire and smoke. Long he stayed 
not before he fell off, leaving four or five of his men 
sprawling over the grating." 

For an hour the Spaniards battered away at Mer- 
ham's vessel, and then boarded him again. They 
threw four small anchors on the deck, and then, 
sheering off, tried to pull off the grating of which 
the anchors had taken hold. But at the same 
time the AdmiraVs yard had become entangled in 
the shrouds of the French vessel, and while this 
held them close to each other Merham fired two 
crossbar shots across the Spaniard's deck, striking 
down many of the crew, and discharged against 
his bow several peculiar bolts made for the purpose 
of tearing ragged holes in a ship's side. Then 
there was danger that the two vessels would sink 
together. Seeing this, the Spaniard slipped off 
the chains by which he held the anchors, and Mer- 



TRAVEL AND PIRACY 43 

ham's men quickly cut the ropes that held his yard, 
so that the vessels fell away from each other. 

While the Admiral, hauling off to a distance, was 
stopping his leaks, the Vice Admiral kept up a brisk 
fire to prevent the Frenchman from getting away. 
The broadsides were returned, and the fight was 
continued from noon till six o'clock. Then the 
Admiral came up again and all night pursued 
Merham, who laid his course for Mamora. But 
the wind was very light, and when morning dawned 
they were near Cape Noa. 

Then the battle began again, and at the end of 
an hour the Spaniard called upon Merham to sur- 
render, promising quarter and honorable treatment. 
But he knew better than to trust any such promise. 
Raising a glass to his lips and mockingly drinking 
to their health, he gave them another broadside. 
They quickly came up with him and boarded 
again. Some of them climbed up to the tops, to 
unsling the mainsail; whereupon Merham and 
some of his men, who were in the roundhouse, 
shot them as if they were birds in a tree, and they 
came tumbling down on the deck. 

The Spaniards attacked the roundhouse so 
furiously that the men in it retreated to the cabin 
and blew it up. Then the sailors in the forecastle, 
who also were heavily attacked, blew up a part of 



44 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

the grating, which hurled into the air many Span- 
iards who were on it. By this time there was so 
much flame and smoke that the Spaniards made 
haste to leave the ship. Merham and his men made 
equal haste to put out the fire with water and wet 
cloths, and as the enemy was still firing at them 
they covered the open places with old sails and pre- 
pared to keep up the contest. The Spaniards next 
hung out a flag of truce ; but Merham stuck to his 
determination to trust to nothing but the power of 
his guns, and after the battle had continued through 
the next afternoon and half of the night, the Span- 
iards hauled off and disappeared in the distance. 

Merham found that he had lost twenty-seven 
men killed and sixteen wounded, while a hundred 
and forty large shot had struck the ship. A 
wounded Spaniard who remained with them said 
that about a hundred men on the Admiral had been 
killed or wounded, and the ship had been in danger 
of sinking. Merham mended his sails, put the 
vessel in order, and, turning about, came to the 
port of Saflee, in Morocco. Captain Smith then 
returned to England. 

This was the man whose skill and energy were 
necessary to the founding of the first English colony 
in America, that the English character and the 
English language might take possession of a great 



TRAVEL AND PIRACY 45 

continent and powerfully influence, perhaps ulti- 
mately determine, the civilization of the entire 
world. And this brief narrative of his early labors 
and achievements tells us how he was trained and 
discipKned for the more important task of his later 
life. 



CHAPTER VII 

Early Attempts in America 

To appreciate fully the value and significance 
of the Jamestown settlement, we must learn the 
story of the similar enterprises that preceded it, 
and know why they resulted in failure. That story 
must be told briefly here. 

Every schoolboy knows that Christopher Colum- 
bus left Spain in August, 1492, sailed directly west- 
ward, and in October discovered an outlying island 
of the West Indies. Perhaps he knows, also, that 
though Columbus discovered some of the other 
islands, he never touched the continent of North 
America. We now know that a little earlier and a 
little later than the year 1000 a.d. Norsemen were 
on our coast, perhaps coming as far south as Rhode 
Island; but they made only a feeble attempt to 
settle here, and left no trace of their presence. The 
fact of their coming was learned only from the an- 
cient sagas (poems) in Iceland. Thus their adven- 
ture had no influence whatever on the development 
of civilization or expansion of territory for the 

46 



EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 47 

civilized races of mankind; and hence it may be 
disregarded except as a curious incident entirely 
aside from the grand trail of history. 

The achievement of Columbus, five hundred 
years later, was followed by such consequences as 
make it the most important ever accomplished 
by the genius of one man in all history. He was 
an Itahan by birth; but he sailed in the employ 
of the Spanish government, and all that he dis- 
covered he claimed for Spain. Then followed the 
fiercest of Spanish explorers and adventurers, whose 
only object was to find and carry home the riches of 
the New World — gold and silver especially — which 
were taken from the natives without compensation 
of any kind and often with murderous cruelty. 

After the Spaniards came the French explorers 
and adventurers, with motives not much better; 
and on the southern part of this northern continent 
they came sometimes into conflict with the Span- 
iards, which resulted in cruel murders and revenges. 

Three things these adventurers sought in the New 
World — precious metals, the fountain of perpetual 
youth, and a passage to the East Indies. They had 
no idea how far westward the continent extended, 
and wherever they came upon a deep bay or a wide 
river, they hoped that by following it up they should 
come out on the other side. Balboa, a Spaniard, 



48 • CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

had stood on the Isthmus of Darien and discov- 
ered the Pacific Ocean. Another Spaniard, Ponce 
de Leon, led the chase in search of the fountain of 
youth, and he and his men drank eagerly of every 
spring they could find in Florida. Still another 
Spaniard, De Soto, discovered the Mississippi 
River, died on its banks, and was buried in its waters. 

The English were slowest of all to think of prof- 
iting by Columbus's discovery, and nearly a cen- 
tury rolled by after that event before ships from 
England crossed the Atlantic for discovery and 
conquest. But when they did turn their attention 
to the New World, while they still hoped to find 
there a passage to India, and to gather mineral 
treasures, they went with the idea of planting 
colonies, which the Spaniards and the French had 
not dreamed of. And this, which is the only sure 
conquest, finally gave them possession of the largest 
and fairest part of the new continent. 

As early as 1497, John and Sebastian Cabot 
(born in Venice, but residents of England and 
sailing in the service of the English government) 
had landed on the coast of Labrador, and discovered 
Newfoundland. But nothing was done at that 
time to claim the country for the English. About 
ninety years later (1583) Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
with a small fleet and a few colonists, landed in the 



EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 49 

harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, and claimed the 
whole island as British territory. But on the return 
voyage all the vessels were lost except one, and Sir 
Humphrey himself perished. It is related that he 
insisted on taking his place in the smallest of the 
vessels, of only ten tons, and when the storm was at 
its height he was seen with a book in his hand, 
saying to his shipmates, ''Heaven is as near by 
sea as by land." This incident is the subject of 
one of Longfellow's finest ballads, a part of which 
may be quoted here : — 

Eastward from Campobello 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed ; 
Three days or more westward he bore, 

Then, alas ! the land-wind failed. 

Alas ! the land-wind failed, 

And ice-cold grew the night, 
And never more, on sea or shore, 

Should Sir Humphrey see the light. 

He sat upon the deck, 

The book was in his hand. 
"Do not fear ! Heaven is as near," 

He said, "by water as by land." 

Southward, for ever southward, 
They drift through dark and day, 

And like a dream, in the Gulf Stream 
Sinking, vanish all away. 



50 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Sir Humphrey's half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
made the earliest practical and determined effort 
to plant an English colony on this continent. In 
1584 he obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter 
^'for the discovery and planting of new lands in 
America." This gave him ''free liberty and li- 
cense from time to time, and at all times forever 
hereafter, to discover, search, find out, and view 
such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands, coun- 
tries and territories, not actually possessed by any 
Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, 
as to him, his heirs and assigns, and to every or any 
of them, shall seem good ; and the same to have, 
hold, occupy, and enjoy for ever." This was the 
usual form in which kings and queens gave away 
what they did not possess and what they knew 
little or nothing about. And, in return, the ex- 
plorers who found lands that were inhabited only 
by people who did not speak their language nor 
profess their religion, at once declared those lands 
to be the property of their sovereign. The most 
monstrous example of this practice was seen when 
Balboa, discovering the Pacific at Panama, waded 
out into it a few yards, and proclaimed that he 
thereupon took possession, for his sovereign, the 
King of Spain, of that entire ocean and all coun- 
tries, whatever they might be, that bordered upon 



EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 51 

it! This would have given him not only the 
whole of North, South, and Central America, but 
also Japan, China, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand, 
New Guinea, the Philippines, and a multitude of 
smaller islands. The common sarcasm of our day, 
"Does he want the Earth?" would have been lost 
on him. 

In April of that year (1584) Sir Walter sent out 
his first expedition — two ships commanded by 
Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. They still 
followed the old course, first sailing south to the 
Canary Islands, then across to the West Indies, 
and then north to the coast of what is now North 
Carolina, and landed on Roanoke Island, where 
the Indians received them in the most friendly 
manner. This expedition was only for discovery 
and exploration, and in a few weeks the ships 
returned to England, taking with them two In- 
dians. They gave such glowing accounts of the 
country — which henceforth was called Virginia 
— that plans were laid at once for sending out a 
colony. All was ready by the next spring, and a 
fleet of seven vessels sailed in April, 1585, "with one 
hundred householders and many things necessary 
to begin a new state." Sir Richard Grenville, a 
kinsman of Raleigh's, commanded the expedition, 
which still followed the old route by way of the 



52 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

West Indies. It arrived at its destination in June, 
and the first act was to restore to their friends the 
two Indians who had been taken to England. A 
hundred and eight men were put ashore, com- 
manded by Captain Ralph Lane, and the Indians 
were as friendly as before. But a foolish act by 
Grenville changed all that. A silver cup was 
taken from his encampment, probably stolen by one 
of the Indians who could not resist the temptation. 
Thereupon Sir Richard, to punish the theft, 
burned one of the native villages. Therefore, 
when in August he sailed away with his ships he 
left a defenseless colony in the midst of Indians 
no longer friendly. Before long they were attacked 
by eighteen hundred warriors, whom, with the 
advantage of firearms against bows and arrows, 
they were able to defeat and drive away. But 
this put an end to their obtaining corn from the 
Indians, and they were brought very near to 
starvation. Fortunately, a fleet commanded by 
Sir Francis Drake, which was returning from the 
West Indies, stopped there, and at the earnest 
solicitation of the colonists Drake took them all 
on board and carried them back to England. 

Undismayed by this failure, Sir Walter Raleigh 
fitted out another colony, which sailed in the 
spring of 1587. Captain John White was the 



EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 53 

commander and was appointed governor of the 
colony, with a council of twelve men. They 
landed in July, and at once discovered the graves 
of fifteen men who had been left there by a relief 
expedition that arrived after Lane and his com- 
pany had departed. White thought he should take 
vengeance for the massacre of the fifteen, and sent 
out an armed force who found a party of Indians 
and fired upon them, killing or wounding several. 
It was soon learned that these Indians belonged to 
a friendly tribe, and thus the mischief begun by 
the folly of Grenville was greatly increased. Here, 
this same year, was born Virginia Dare, the first 
white child born in America. Governor White 
was sent to England for supplies, but he never 
returned to the colony, and the sending of the much- 
needed supplies was delayed by war between Eng- 
land and Spain. When at last the three relief 
ships arrived there (August, 1590), the whole 
colony had disappeared. The only trace was the 
word 'Xroatan" cut in large letters on a tree. 
This appeared to say that the colonists had gone 
to that island, and a feeble attempt was made 
to find them there ; but a storm arose, the search 
was given up, and the mystery never was explained. 
The failure that attended all these efforts of the 
hopeful and energetic Raleigh was probably due 



54 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

largely, if not wholly, to the fact that he did not 
himself accompany and command any of his 
expeditions. It was a serious illustration of the 
homely saying, "If you wish anything to be done 
right, do it yourself." And the main reason that 
he did not go with the ships was, that he was a 
great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, and she was 
not willing to let him risk himself in such adven- 
tures. A later attempt at English colonization in 
that region would also have resulted in disastrous 
failure, but for the good judgment, determined 
energy, and resourcefulness of one man. That 
man was Captain John Smith. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The First Virginia Company 

Although the failure of Raleigh's attempts at 
colonization in America was discouraging, his ships 
had brought to England so much information con- 
cerning the resources of Virginia that it was evident 
that a rich field for settlement across the ocean 
lay ready for a colony that should be better pro- 
vided, more skillfully led, and more fortunate. 

If there was one Englishman who saw this 
opportunity more clearly than others, that man was 
Captain John Smith. As early as 1604 he began 
to urge his countrymen to take advantage of their 
good fortune by sending out a strong colony. His 
first associates in the enterprise were Edward 
Maria Wingfield, the Rev. Robert Hunt, and 
Bartholomew Gosnold. The last named was an 
experienced navigator, had been associated with 
Walter Raleigh, and had crossed the Atlantic by 
the more direct route, sailed along the coast of 
what is now New England, landed on Cape Cod, 
and planted a small colony on an island in Buzzard's 

55 



56 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Bay, which, however, was soon divided by quarrels 
and returned to England. 

After two years of effort, a charter was obtained 
from King James in April, 1606. The letters 
patent, as the charter was called, were issued to 
Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hak- 
luyt, and others. It was intended to establish 
a mercantile corporation, but the result was the 
estabHshment of the earliest English colony in 
America. The charter was very Hberal, so far as 
the geographical grant was concerned. It gave 
the proprietors all the coast from the 34th to the 
45th degree of latitude — that is, from Cape Fear 
to Nova Scotia, together with such islands as there 
might be within a hundred miles of the shore. 
But the grant was divided between two companies, 
the one with which we are concerned having 
from Cape Fear to a point north of the entrance 
to Chesapeake Bay. The fault of the charter 
was, that it left with the King the power to make 
all laws for the government of the colony and the 
appointment of all officials. 

Despite these disadvantages, Wingfield, Hunt, 
Gosnold, and Smith got together a company of a 
hundred and five, all told, and obtained three 
vessels, the largest of which was only of one hun- 
dred tons burden. For captain they had Chris- 



THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 57 

topher Newport, an experienced navigator. The 
expedition sailed December 19, 1606, and after a 
stormy voyage and a long struggle with head winds, 
they arrived in Virginia in April, 1607. It was a 
strange company. Four of them were carpenters, 
one was a blacksmith, one a bricklayer, one a mason, 
one a tailor, one a barber, one a sailor, one a drum- 
mer, two were surgeons, twelve were laborers, and 
four were classed as *'boys." So far, very well. 
But there were forty-eight who were classed as 
*' gentlemen" — that is, they were not expected to 
do any work with their hands — probably could not 
do anything that required skill. Why these were 
allowed to go at all, we can only guess. Perhaps 
they contributed money toward the expenses of the 
expedition, and expected to get it back by picking 
up gold nuggets in the beds of the streams. Then, 
too, whenever such an enterprise is fitted out, 
there are careless, happy-go-lucky fellows who apply 
for permission to go merely because they are fond 
of adventure. The foolish King, instead of ap- 
pointing the officers at once, and thus giving them 
authority over that motley company, had all his 
appointments and all his orders for the settlement 
and management of the colony sealed up in a box, 
which was not to be opened till the ships arrived 
in Virginia. With such a company and such a 



58 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

lack of authority and discipline, it is a wonder that 
they ever got there at all. They sailed by the old 
route — southward to the Canary Islands, then 
across to the West Indies, then northward to Vir- 
ginia. In the course of the voyage Captain Smith 
was accused of organizing a conspiracy to take 
command of the expedition, murder the Council, 
and make himself king, and was placed in close 
confinement. He appears not to have been fright- 
ened by this ridiculous performance, but calmly 
waited for the time when they should be landed, and 
it should be known who were the officers of the 
colony, as then he could have a proper trial. When 
the ships reached Chesapeake Bay, the first land 
that appeared was named Cape Henry, and the 
opposite point Cape Charles — for two princes, 
sons of King James I. The spot where the voy- 
agers first landed they named "Comfort," from 
their feelings at ending a long and disagreeable 
voyage — the same that is now known as Old Point 
Comfort. They had intended to land on Roanoke 
Island, where Raleigh's colony was left and lost, 
but they passed it by and entered the Chesapeake. 
It was the pleasantest time of year for that latitude, 
and Captain Smith expressed a delight in the 
scene which was probably shared by all. He wrote, 
in his history : ''Within is a country that may have 



THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 59 

the prerogative over the most pleasant places 
known. Heaven and earth never agreed better to 
frame a place for man^s habitation. Here are 
mountains, hills, plains, valleys, rivers, and brooks, 
all running most pleasantly into a fair bay, com- 
passed, but for the mouth, with fruitful and delight- 
some land." Thirty of the men went ashore on 
Cape Henry for a little outing, and were attacked 
by Indians, who wounded two of them. A few 
musket shots drove away the savages, but the 
incident detracted somewhat from the "delight- 
someness" of the land. These colonists suffered 
from the folly of some of their predecessors in the 
Roanoke colonies, who had made the Indians 
enemies when they might have been friends. 

The sealed box was opened, and it appeared that 
the Council, appointed to serve for one year, con- 
sisted of Edward Maria Wingfield, Bartholomew 
Gosnold, John Smith, Christopher Newport, John 
Radcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall. 
They were to choose one of their number for presi- 
dent, and they chose Wingfield, who then swore 
in the other members. As Smith was still under 
arrest, he took no part in the opening of the box, 
and was not at once recognized as a member of the 
Council. But there was work to be done, with 
hardships to be endured and risks to be taken, and 



6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Smith, the ablest man in the company, was not 
excused from any of these. Seventeen days were 
spent in searching for the most suitable spot for a 
settlement, and, among other things, the searchers 
found woods of various kinds, beautiful flowers, 
abundant oysters, and strawberries ''four times 
bigger and better than ours in England." 

Some Indians, apparently friendly, appeared on 
the scene and invited the colonists to visit their 
towns of Kecoughtan and Rappahannock. The 
invitation was accepted by several, and the In- 
dians, after spreading mats for them to sit upon, 
fed them with hominy and showed them how to 
smoke tobacco. George Percy, one of the colonists, 
wrote a description of the scene: ''These savages 
are as goodly men as we had ever seen — gentle, 
quite civil indeed ; their werowance [chief] coming 
at their head to meet the strangers, playing on a 
flute made of a reed, with a crown of deer's hair 
colored red, in fashion of a rose, fastened about 
his knot of hair, and a great plate of copper on the 
other side of his head, with two long feathers in 
seeming of a pair of horns placed in the midst of 
his crown. His body was painted all with crimson, 
with a chain of beads about his neck; his face 
painted blue besprinkled with silver ore, as we 
thought ; his ears all behung with bracelets of pearl, 



THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 6i 

and in either ear a bird's claw through it, beset 
with fine copper or gold. He entertained us in 
so modest a proud fashion as though he had been a 
prince of civil government. The Indians carried 
bows and arrows in a most warlike manner, with the 
swords at their backs beset with sharp stones and 
pieces of iron, able to cleave a man in sunder." 

Although Captain Smith was still under arrest, 
his associates appear to have appreciated his re- 
markable abilities and his value to the colony ; for 
when they sent Captain Newport with twenty men 
to discover the source of James River they included 
Smith in the company. These explorers ascended the 
stream till they came to the rapids, just above the 
present site of Richmond, where they ended their 
voyage and set up a cross. They found there an In- 
dian village pleasantly situated on a hill, with corn- 
fields and other cultivated plots around it. They 
made the acquaintance of the chief, Powhatan, and 
Captain Newport made him a present of a hatchet, 
with which the chief was greatly pleased. When 
some of the Indians complained that the English 
were intruders, the chief said: ^' Never mind — 
they do not hurt us — they only take a little waste 
land." But the colonists soon learned that the 
savages were not so friendly as some of them pre- 
tended to be. 



62 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

When the explorers returned they learned that 
in their absence a party of Indians had attacked 
the settlement, killed a boy, and wounded seven- 
teen men. President Wingfield had a narrow es- 
cape when an arrow passed through his beard. 
The worst might have happened to the little band 
of settlers, but a chain shot fired from a cannon 
on one of the vessels cut off the bough of a tree 
which fell among the Indians, and immediately they 
all ran away. It is notable that the North Ameri- 
can Indians, brave enough in the midst of most 
dangers, have always been in mortal terror of any 
kind of artillery. 

The Indians had called the river Powhatan, after 
their chief, but the colonists had named it James, 
for their king. Ascending it about forty miles from 
its mouth, they found a small peninsula stretch- 
ing out from the north bank, and it was decided 
that this was the proper place for their settlement. 
One can readily see why they chose it. From it 
they could always look up or down the river, and 
detect any enemies that might approach in canoes ; 
it gave them an unusual water front for their own 
craft; and in case of storms their vessels could 
find shelter on the one or the other side of the pen- 
insula, according to the direction of the storm. 
Nevertheless, one at least of Council, Gosnold, 



THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 63 

objected to it, and time proved that he was 
right. They named the settlement Jamestown, 
and believed they were founding a great city of the 
future. It never became a large town, and to-day 
much of that peninsula is under water and a ruined 
church tower is all that remains of the buildings. 
A part of the old ditch can be traced, as well as 
Confederate earthworks that were constructed two 
and a half centuries after this colonial experiment. 



CHAPTER IX 

Jamestown Founded 

As soon as the site was chosen all the men fell 
to work erecting houses — small, thatched cot- 
tages — and laying out gardens. Captain Smith 
urged the wisdom of fortifying the settlement 
against attacks of Indians; but President Wing- 
field rejected the advice, holding that nothing 
was called for except little wattle fences to divide 
the plots. But when there had been one serious 
attack, and he himself had narrowly escaped death, 
he was converted to Smith's way of thinking, and 
the work of fortifying was begun at once. This 
was only one of many circumstances that showed 
Wingfield's unfitness for his office. Palisades were 
constructed around the settlement, cannon were 
mounted, and the men were regularly drilled as 
soldiers. This was accomplished none too soon; 
for the Indians got over their fright and returned 
to the attack. They continually lurked in the 
woods bordering every path that led from the fort, 
ready to discharge an arrow at any colonist that 

64 



JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 65 

ventured out. Smith thus described the situation : 
''What toil we had, with so small a power, to guard 
our workmen a-days, watch all night, resist our 
enemies, and effect our business — to re-lade the 
ships, cut down trees, and prepare the ground to 
plant our corn." 

When the ships were loaded — with clapboards, 
sassafras, and tobacco — and ready to set sail, 
the Council proposed that Captain Smith go home 
to England, to be tried by the government there. 
This he promptly refused to do, and demanded an 
immediate trial at the hands of the Council. The 
trial not only resulted in his complete exoneration, 
but in the condemnation of Wingfield to pay Smith 
two hundred pounds (about $1000), because he had 
repeated the false charges and suborned men to 
swear to them. Smith received the money, and 
immediately turned it into the treasury of the 
colony — an act that speaks well for his singleness 
of purpose and his interest in and loyalty to the 
English settlement. 

Mr. Hunt, being a minister and a kindly man, 
was naturally the peacemaker when the colony 
was disturbed by dissensions and recriminations. 
He now brought them all together, restored good 
feeling, and had Captain Smith admitted to his 
seat in the Council. The next day a band of In- 



66 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

dians appeared and asked for peace, and Captain 
Newport, with two of the vessels, sailed for Eng- 
land, carrying "good news from Virginia." 

If he had sailed a little later, he would not have 
had only good news to carry. The place for the 
settlement was not well chosen, as there were ex- 
tensive swamps a little to the north ; many of the 
men were unused to labor in the field, and the heat 
of summer was coming on, while their provisions 
were running short. One after another they 
sickened and died, until at the end of the summer 
about half had gone. The most serious loss was the 
death of Bartholomew Gosnold, next to Smith the 
ablest man in the colony. 

Because the voyage to Virginia had occupied 
five months, instead of two months as was expected, 
the colonists had arrived too late to plant and raise 
crops. While the ships remained with them they 
were fed from the stores on board ; but now they 
were reduced to a daily allowance of half a pint of 
wheat and half a pint of barley for each man, and 
the grain had been so long in the holds of the vessels 
that it was not very good. Their condition at this 
time was described by one of the colonists in these 
words: "Our drink was water; our lodgings, 
castles in the air." They fished, however, and 
obtained sturgeons and crabs, and after a while 



JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 67 

friendly relations were established with the Indians, 
who gave them fruit and other provisions. 

One would suppose that when a small company 
are left to take care of themselves in a distant land, 
surrounded by dangers, their constant endeavor 
would be to comfort and assist one another and 
keep together in the closest friendship. But history 
tells that in such circumstances it of tener happens 
that suspicion and personal jealousy take the 
place of good counsel. Thus it was at Jamestown. 
John Kendall, a member of the Council, was ac- 
cused of making trouble in it, and was expelled 
from his seat in that body. Wingfield, the presi- 
dent, was accused of taking the best of the provi- 
sions and was suspected of an intention to desert 
the colony. The smallest of the vessels, known as 
the pinnace, had been left at Jamestown when the 
others sailed away, and it was beheved that he in- 
tended to take that and return to England. So 
firm was this belief — though the accusation could 
not be proved — that Wingfield was deposed from 
the presidency of the colony and was kept on the 
pinnace as a prisoner. Captain John Radcliffe 
was then made president. This man was described 
as "of weak judgment in dangers, and less industry 
in peace.'' But he had the good sense to leave the 
management of affairs largely to Captain Smith, 



68 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

who from that time was the real leader of the 
colony. 

Smith now set all the men at work vigorously 
building substantial houses. To make their labors 
most effective, he divided the work — or *' special- 
ized '^ it, as we should say. Some cut down the 
trees, others hewed the logs, others did the thatch- 
ing, etc. Smith was the most earnest worker 
among them, and his house was built last of all. 
The value of his judgment and energy at this time 
may be seen when we read that "some of the men 
were ill, while the rest were in such despair as they 
would rather starve and rot in idleness than be per- 
suaded to do anything for their own relief without 
constraint.*^ The discontented loudly blamed the 
London company for sending them across the ocean 
without a sufficient supply of provisions. To 
them Smith is said to have repHed : "The fault in 
going was our own. What could be thought fitting 
or necessary we had ; but what we should find or 
want, or where we should be, we were all ignorant. 
Supposing to make our passage in two months, with 
victuals to five, and the advantage of the spring 
to work, we were at sea five months, where we both 
spent our victual and lost the opportimity of the 
time and season to plant, by the unskillful presump- 
tion of our ignorant transporters, that understood 



JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 69 

not at all what they undertook." This was the 
exact truth, and it accounted for the worst of the 
difficulties with which the colony had to contend. 
Newport had returned to England, Gosnold was 
dead, Wingfield and Kendall had been deposed, 
and no one was chosen to fill the place of any of 
these in the Council, which now consisted only of 
RadcHffe, Martin, and Smith. Probably it was all 
the more efficient for being smaller, so long as Smith 
was the leader. As the provisions that had been 
supplied by the Indians were now nearly exhausted, 
he planned a trading expedition to obtain another 
supply. Taking five men with him in a small 
boat, he rowed down the river. They went ashore 
at the Indian village of Kecoughtan (where Hamp- 
ton now stands), and endeavored to trade. But 
the Indians, seeing they were in dire need, mocked 
them. They would offer to give a handful of com 
for a sword, or a small piece of bread for a coat. 
Smith and his men therefore leveled their muskets 
and fired a volley into the band of Indians, who at 
once ran away. The whites then entered the vil- 
lage, where they found a great abundance of com. 
Before long a company of perhaps seventy savages, 
formed in military order, came out of the woods. 
They were painted in all sorts of colors, and were 
singing and dancing, carrying bows and arrows, 



70 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and flourishing war-clubs. Their "Okee" was 
carried before them. This might be called their 
god, or their mascot. It was a hideous image 
made of skin stuffed with moss and decorated with 
beads. Smith's men gave them a volley of mus- 
ketry, when, as he says, "down fell their god, and 
divers lay sprawling on the ground." The Indians 
that were not wounded ran back into the woods. 
Presently they sent their medicine man to beg for 
the idol and offer to make peace. Smith answered 
that if they would load his boat with provisions, 
he would give back Okee and also give them beads, 
hatchets, and copper and be their friend. They at 
once brought venison, turkeys, and other fowls 
and bread, with which they loaded the boat ; then 
with their beloved idol and the trinkets they went 
away dancing and singing. 

Captain Smith made several short excursions into 
the neighboring country, going as far as the Chick- 
ahominy River, to make acquaintance and friend- 
ship with the Indians and learn the resources of the 
region. On returning from one of these excursions, 
he learned that there was a plot among some of the 
men to return to England, Wingfield and Kendall 
being the principal movers of it. The conspirators 
had taken possession of the pinnace and secured 
a large part of the colony's stock of provisions. 



JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 71 

Smith promptly trained the guns of the fort upon 
the pinnace and gave the conspirators the choice 
of returning to their proper places in the colony or 
being sent to the bottom. They chose to return, 
and Kendall, who was considered the head and 
front of it all, was then tried, condemned, and shot. 
Soon afterward Smith set out on another ven- 
ture. He reached the Chickahominy, found sev- 
eral villages, made more friends among the Indians, 
and returned with a large supply of provisions. 
But he returned only to find once more that certain 
impatient and restless members of the colony were 
planning to desert it. This time, however, they 
did not resort to a secret conspiracy, and therefore 
they could not be punished. But Smith and 
Martin vigorously opposed the scheme, and while 
they were discussing it the autumn season brought 
great numbers of wild ducks and geese to the river, 
and game animals approached the settlement in 
search of food and shelter, so that the colonists had 
only to gather them in, and these, with the corn and 
other vegetables that Smith had brought, made a 
good winter store, and the discontent died away. 
He writes that ''none of our tufftaffaty humorists 
then desired to go for England." He did not in- 
vent that word, but it is rare. It refers to garments 
that have become very much worn and almost 



72 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

ragged, but still show that they were made of rich 
material. Englishmen then, as Englishmen now, 
were inordinately fond of shooting any kind of 
game, and so long as the shooting season lasted 
the colonists were apparently contented and happy. 
Smith wrote of this time: "The Spaniard never 
more greedily desired gold than he [the English- 
man] desired victual, nor his [the Spaniard's] sol- 
diers more to abandon the country than he [the 
Enghshman] to keep it." Therein Smith spoke 
an important truth, not of his own time only, but 
of all later times. No people have ever equaled 
the English as colonizers, and that is the reason 
that they became the ruKng power on this conti- 
nent, though their chance at it came after the 
Spaniard's and after the Frenchman's. The build- 
ing of homes and cultivation of land make a surer 
possession than forts and armed men. 



CHAPTER X 

Prisoner to the Indians 

But many of the colonists still had the habits 
of petulant children. As soon as one favor or en- 
tertainment was ended they were impatient and 
querulous until another was provided. As soon 
as the shooting season was over they began to find 
fault with Captain Smith, though but for his judg- 
ment and energy they might all have perished. 
The reader must remember that the company was 
not such as he would have selected. He would 
have chosen those only who were seriously bent on 
establishing themselves in the New World and were 
not afraid of work. The company in London made 
up the shipment, and in it were included many who 
were designated as ''gentlemen." Some of these 
went because they expected to pick up gold without 
much digging, while others were simply — as we 
should express it now — "out for a lark." There 
was no gold to be found, and they were not likely 
to catch many larks, though the winter skies would 
soon fall upon them. 

73 



74 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

They now complained that Captain Smith, once 
on the Chickahominy, should have followed up its 
course till he ascertained whether that would lead 
to the South Sea (or Pacific, as we call it) ; for one 
object of all expeditions sent to America was, to 
find an opening by which ships might sail through 
into the Pacific and thus have a much shorter 
voyage to the East Indies. Nobody, at that time, 
had any idea of the width of the newly discovered 
continent. Of course Smith had sense enough to 
know that ships built for ocean travel could not pass 
through by so small a channel as that of the Chick- 
ahominy, even if it were open all the way across. 
The James was larger, but its falls, or rapids, showed 
that no navigator could go through by that route. 

But the Captain did not argue long with the 
thoughtless and discontented, though he told them 
the immediate need was, to lay in supplies for the 
winter. He was desirous of exploring the surround- 
ing country as far as possible, and making friends 
of more of the Indians. He therefore organized 
a small expedition to explore the Chickahominy 
as far toward its headwaters as possible. 

With a barge and as large a company as it could 
accommodate he passed up the river about fifty 
miles. From that point the channel was too small 
and too much obstructed for the barge. He there- 



PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 75 

fore persuaded the Indians to let him have the use 
of a canoe, and he engaged two of them to paddle 
it. Taking two of his men with him in the canoe, 
he left the others with the barge, carefully instruct- 
ing them not to go ashore during his absence. He 
then ascended the stream about twenty miles, to 
a point where it was difficult to proceed farther. 
Here he left the canoe, telhng the two EngHshmen 
that remained in it to keep their firearms ready for 
instant use and to signal to him by a shot if there 
was any danger. He took one of the Indians with 
him as a guide, and set out to examine the region. 
A few minutes later Captain Smith heard a terrific 
war whoop and knew he was about to be attacked. 
As he had heard no report of firearms from the canoe 
he believed that the men he left there had been 
surprised and murdered, and this proved to be 
true. They had disobeyed his orders, having 
gone ashore, built a fire, and lain down to sleep 
beside it, where of course they were murdered. 
The men in the barge were equally disobedient. 
They went ashore and were wandering about care- 
lessly when they were attacked by a large band of 
Indians. With difficulty they succeeded in getting 
back to the barge — all but one, whom the savages 
caught- This poor wretch, hoping to save his Hfe 
by serving his captors, told them all about Captain 



76 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Smithes movements. But after getting this in- 
formation from him they put him to a cruel 
death. 

As soon as the Captain knew that his men in 
the canoe had been treacherously murdered he knew 
also that there must be Indians lurking about to 
entrap and murder him. Therefore he promptly 
seized the Indian that was with him, disarmed him, 
and with his garters bound the Indian's arm fast 
to his own left arm, thus using him as a shield 
against any arrows that might be shot by the 
savages. Very soon he saw two Indians bending 
their bows, evidently intending to harm him. 
Before they could use them he discharged a pistol 
and drove them away. He kept the Indian guide 
between them and himself, knowing that others 
would soon appear; and, sure enough, presently 
appeared the great chief Opecancanough with 
more than two hundred braves. Captain Smith 
fired at them with his pistol, killing three and 
wounding several, one of whom died of his wound, 
and thus for a time he kept them beyond arrow- 
shot, as they were afraid to come near firearms. 
The Indians tried to induce him to surrender, on the 
promise that they would not take his life, but he 
would not submit unless they would let him get 
away to his canoe and go down the river. Then, 



PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 77 

facing the savages all the time, and occasionally 
firing at them, he backed away slowly. Unfortu- 
nately, he did not once look behind him to learn 
where his retreating steps were leading him, and 
after a time he stepped off solid ground and sank 
up to his waist in a swamp. It was impossible for 
him to get out unless he had assistance, and he 
therefore threw away his pistol and surrendered. 
The savages drew him out of the swamp and car- 
ried him to the chief. Smith's presence of mind 
never left him, and he was as full of resources as 
ever. He had a small ivory pocket-compass, 
which he used to keep track of his routes in his 
explorations, and this he now presented to Ope- 
cancanough, who was entertained and puzzled 
by the needle, which he saw through the glass but 
could not touch. Smith not only explained to the 
Indians the real use of the compass, but added 
imaginary powers. He says that by means of it 
he proved "the roundness of the earth and skies, 
the sphere of the sun, moon, and stars, and how 
the sun did chase the night around the world con- 
tinually. Then he told them of the greatness of 
the land and sea, the diversity of nations, variety 
of complexions, and how we [the EngHsh people] 
were to them antipodes, and many other such like 
matters." 



78 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

No doubt his lecture was very entertaining, even 
to the poor savages who could not understand it 
all; nevertheless, Hke many another teacher of 
new things, he was doomed to persecution. They 
tied him to a tree, and drew their bows to shoot 
him, when the chief raised his hand holding the 
compass, as a command to them to desist. Captain 
Smith was then put under strong guard and was 
carried in a procession to a near village, his sword 
and firearms, as trophies, being carried by the chief 
himself. The name of the village is given as Ora- 
pax, and out of it came all the women and children 
to meet the procession and see the captive. They 
never before had seen a white person. Then there 
was a grand dance. Every Indian carried a war- 
club, a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and was 
decorated in the most fantastic manner — some 
wore on the head a dried bird with wings outspread, 
others pieces of copper, or long feathers, or shells, 
or snakes' rattles, while all were painted in brilliant 
red around the head and shoulders. At the village, 
while he was still carefully guarded, the Indians 
set before him such an over-abundance of good food 
that he began to suspect they intended to fatten 
him, preparatory to kilKng and eating him. But 
no tribe of the North American Indians has ever 
been known to be cannibals. One Indian, to whom 



PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 79 

he had formerly given some trinket, was good 
enough to bring his blanket to him, for the days 
were growing cold. But another, whose son 
Smith had wounded seriously, was wroth toward 
him. They supposed Smith must be a great medi- 
cine man, and asked him to cure the wounded boy. 
He said he could not do it without some medicine 
that he could get at Jamestown, and he proposed 
that he be sent there to get it. This the savages 
would not consent to. Then he asked that three 
of them might go, with a note from him, and they 
fell in with this plan at once. They were glad of an 
opportunity to spy out the condition of affairs at 
the settlement, for they intended to attack it. 
Smith, taking a leaf from a memorandum-book, 
wrote a letter to the colonists, in which he told 
them of his situation, warned them to expect an 
attack, and advised them to show the messengers 
the cannons and tell them what wonderful arrange- 
ments they had to shoot and blow up any enemy 
that should attack them. He also asked that cer- 
tain articles be sent to him ; and before the messen- 
gers departed he told them what things would be 
given to them to bring back, if they presented that 
paper at the fort. They returned in three days, 
bringing the articles that he wanted, and all were 
astonished and bewildered by this proof that he 



8o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

could make a piece of paper speak to his distant 
friends. Moreover, the messengers gave a terrify- 
ing report of the dangers of the fort — its great 
guns and their thundering explosions, its mines, its 
strong defenses, and the warlike character of the 
men in the colony. Therefore the Indians gave up 
their intention of attacking the colony in force. 

But this did not end the Captain's difficulties and 
danger. While the messengers were gone the man 
he had wounded died, and the man's father became 
furiously bent on revenge. His attempts to kill 
Smith were thwarted only by the constant care of 
the guards, and it was determined to remove the 
prisoner to a distant place. The procession was 
formed again and resumed its march. It took a 
roundabout course, to exhibit the prisoner to the 
people in many villages and to other tribes, coming 
back at last to the place where Opecancanough 
had his capital. Here they went through a strange 
performance, which puzzled even Smith, who had 
learned so much of the Indian character. Several 
medicine men, painted in black and red and smeared 
with oil, dressed themselves in skins of wild animals, 
kept up a constant noise with rattles made of gourds 
and with the wildest shrieks and howls danced 
around him from morning till night. There was 
no eating during the day, but at sunset all were fed 



PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 8i 

bountifully — the medicine men, however, taking 
care to eat by themselves, not with him. Smith's 
description of this strange performance is so pic- 
turesque that it is worth quoting in full : — 

''Early in a morning a great fire was made in 
a long house, and a mat was spread on one side as on 
the other. On the one they caused him [Smith] 
to sit, and all the guard went out of the house. 
Presently came skipping in a great grim fellow all 
painted over with coal mingled with oil, and many 
snakes' and weasels' skins stuffed with moss, and 
all their tails tied together so that they met on the 
crown of his head like a tassel; and round about 
the tassel was a coronet of feathers, the skins 
hanging round about his head, back, and shoulders, 
and in a manner covered his face ; with a diabolical 
voice and a rattle in his hand. With most strange 
gestures and passions he began his invocation and 
environed the fire with a circle of meal. Which 
done, three more such like demons came rushing 
in with the like antic tricks, painted half black half 
red. But all their eyes were painted white, and 
some red strokes Hke mustachios along their cheeks. 
Round about him [Smith] those fiends danced a 
pretty while, and then in came three more as ugly 
as the rest, with red eyes and strokes over their 
black faces. At last they all sat down right against 



82 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

him — three of them on the one hand of the chief 
priest, and three on the other. Then all with their 
rattles began a song ; which ended, the chief priest 
laid down five wheat- corns, then, straining his 
arms and hands with such violence that he sweat 
and his veins swelled, he began a short oration. 
At the conclusion they all gave a short groan, and 
then he laid down three grains more. After that 
they began their song again, and then there was 
another oration, ever laying down so many corns 
as before, till they had twice encircled the fire. 
That done, they took a bunch of little sticks pre- 
pared for that purpose, continuing still their devo- 
tion, and at the end of every song and oration they 
laid down a stick betwixt the divisions of corn. 
Till night neither he nor they did either eat or drink, 
and then they feasted merrily and with the best 
provisions they could make. Three days they used 
this ceremony, the meaning whereof they told him 
[Smith] was to know if he intended them well or no. 
The circle of meal signified their country, the circles 
of corn the bounds of the sea, and the sticks his 
[Smithes] country. They imagined the world to be 
flat and round, like a trencher, and they in the 
midst. Opitchapam, the King^s brother, invited 
him to his house, where with many platters of 
bread, fowl, and wild beasts, as did environ him, he 



PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 83 

bid him welcome. But not any of them would eat 
with him, but put up all the remainder in baskets. 
At his return to Opecancanough's, all the King's 
women and their children flocked about him for 
their parts, as a due by custom, to be merry with 
such fragments." 

All savages are very superstitious, and it was 
easy for the medicine men — or priests, as Smith 
calls them — to make the tribe believe that by 
those ceremonies they could find out what was in 
the prisoner's mind. Then the chief offered him 
life, Hberty, and everything he could wish for, if 
he would show them how the fort at Jamestown 
could be captured. But of course such a man was 
not thus to be tempted into treachery. On the 
contrary, he told them the white men were so nu- 
merous and strong and wise that the Indians never 
could overcome them and would better be always 
friendly to them. They brought one of his pistols 
and asked him to fire it. Knowing that they wished 
to learn how to use it, he fumbled with it in a way 
to break the lock, and made them think it was an 
accident. They had obtained somehow a bag of 
gunpowder (perhaps they stole it at Jamestown) 
and they showed it to him and told him they in- 
tended to plant it in the spring and raise a crop. 
He made no objection ! 



84 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

After long delay, finding that he could neither be 
bribed nor frightened, and that they could do 
nothing with him, they took him to a place called 
Werowocomoco, where Powhatan, the king of all 
that country, resided. He was sometimes called 
the Indian Emperor of Virginia. It is believed that 
Werowocomoco was in what is now Gloucester 
county. 



CHAPTER XI 

At Powhatan's Capital 

It was a dreary journey that Captain Smith 
made to the capital of the great chief. It led 
through dense forests, at a gloomy time of year, 
and he was heavily guarded by savages whose 
looks and actions indicated that they considered 
him doomed to death. Nevertheless, he appears 
never to have lost heart, sustained, probably, not 
only by his marvelous native courage but by re- 
membrance of his many escapes from serious danger. 

When they arrived at Werowocomoco they were 
not admitted at once to the presence of the chief. 
Several days were spent in preparations, so that 
the ceremonies might be as impressive as possible, 
filling the Indians with a belief in the greatness 
and power of their tribe, and showing the men of 
Jamestown — if they should learn of it — what 
they might expect if they were not in every way 
friendly to the natives. 

When all was ready the prisoner was brought into 
court. The place was an open space in the thick 



86 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

forest, with great trees making a high wall all 
round it. Powhatan, the Emperor, who appeared 
to be about sixty years of age, sat in a long house, 
on a throne that Captain Smith says looked like a 
bedstead. He was covered with a large robe made 
of raccoon skins with all the tails hanging out; 
and on the ground before him there was a fire, for 
now the weather was growing cold. *'0n either 
hand," says Smith in his narrative, ''did sit a young 
woman of sixteen or eighteen years, and along on 
each side of the house two rows of men, and behind 
them as many women, with all their heads and 
shoulders painted red, many of their heads be- 
decked with the white down of birds, but every 
one with something, and a great chain of white 
beads about their necks. At his entrance before 
the King all the people gave a great shout. The 
Queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring 
Smith water to wash his hands, and another brought 
him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry 
them, they having feasted him after the best 
barbarous manner they could. 

"A long consultation was held; but the conclu- 
sion was, two great stones were brought before 
Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on 
Smith, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his 
head, being ready with their clubs to beat out his 



AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 87 

brains. Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter, 
when no entreaty could prevail, got Smith's head 
in her arms and laid her own upon his, to save him 
from death ; whereat the Emperor was contented he 
should live to make him hatchets and her bells, 
beads, and copper, for they thought him as well 
trained of all occupations as themselves. For the 
King himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, 
arrows, pots, plant, hunt, or do anything so well 
as the rest. 

^'Two days afterward Powhatan, having dis- 
guised himself in the most fearfullest manner he 
could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth 
to a great house in the woods and there upon a mat 
by the fire to be left alone. Not long after, from 
behind a mat that divided the house, was made 
the most dolefullest noise he ever heard. Then 
Powhatan, more like a demon than a man, with 
some two hundred more as black as himself, came 
unto him and told him now they were friends, and 
presently he should go to Jamestown to send him 
two great guns and a grindstone, for which he would 
give him the country of Capahowosick and forever 
esteem him as his son Nantaquond. 

''So to Jamestown, with twelve guides, Powhatan 
sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, 
he still expecting (as he had done all this long time 



88 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one 
death or other, for all their feasting. But God 
had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians 
with compassion. The next morning betimes they 
came to the fort, where Smith, having used the 
savages with what kindness he could, he showed 
Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two demi- 
culverins [small cannons] and a millstone [or 
grindstone] to carry to Powhatan. They found 
them somewhat too heavy ; but when they did see 
him discharge them, being loaded with stones, 
among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles, 
and the ice and branches came so tumbling down 
that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. 
But at last we regained some confidence with them 
and gave them such toys, and sent to Powhatan, 
his wife and children, such presents, as gave them 
in general full content." 

On his arrival at Jamestown this time. Captain 
Smith found the whole colony in a tangle, or, as he 
expresses it, '^ all in combustion.*' Several were 
just getting ready to seize the pinnace and sail 
away for England; but he trained a cannon on 
the boat, and, with his loaded musket at his 
shoulder, compelled them either to come ashore or 
be sunk. Others were plotting to have Smith exe- 
cuted, on the ground that he was responsible for 



AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 89 

the death of the two men whom he had left in 
charge of his canoe and who were murdered by the 
Indians. But he says that he "quickly took such 
order with such lawyers that he laid them by the 
heels till he sent some of them prisoners for Eng- 
land." 

From this time, Pocahontas, accompanied by 
several women, came to Jamestown once in four 
or five days, bringing abundant supplies of provi- 
sions, without which the whole colony might have 
been starved, and Smith says that "his relation 
of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werowo- 
comoco, and of the state and bounty of Powhatan, 
so revived their dead spirits (especially the love of 
Pocahontas) as all men's fear was abandoned." 

Doubts have been raised as to the truth of the 
story of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain 
Smith, and there has been much discussion of the 
subject, with attempts to analyze the evidence. 
The argument against it is founded mainly on the 
fact that the incident is not mentioned in the first 
of Smith's narratives, but is recorded in the later 
one. It is to be considered that he sent his manu- 
script to England and was not there to read the 
proof or in any way supervise the printing, and so 
bunglingly was this done that one narrative, ac- 
knowledged to be his, bore the name of another 



90 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

man as, the writer. It is not impossible that when 
the first account was presented for print, some 
meddling editor struck out whatever he thought 
was improbable or was put in merely to make the 
story popular. There is no question that Smith 
was a prisoner in the hands of the Indians, and 
surely some extraordinary influence must have 
prevented them from dispatching him. I prefer 
to believe the story of Pocahontas. 

We learn, however, that Captain Smith knew 
how to embellish a story and to invent incidents. 
In his account of his interview with Powhatan he 
says: ''He asked me the cause of our coming. I 
told him that, being in fight with the Spaniards, 
our enemy, and being overpowered, and near put 
to retreat by extreme weather, we put to this shore. 
When we landed at Chesapeake the people shot at 
us, but at Kecoughtan they kindly used us. When 
we by signs demanded fresh water, they described 
us up the river was all fresh water. Our pinnace 
being leaky, we were forced to stay and mend her, 
till Captain Newport, my father, came to conduct 
us away. He demanded why we went farther with 
our boat. I told him, in that I would have occa- 
sion to talk of the back sea ; that on the other side 
of the main [land], where was salt water, my father 
had a child slain, which we supposed was done by 




Pocahontas, the Friend of the English. 
From the statue by William Ordway Partridge. 



AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 91 

Monocan, his enemy, and his death we intended 
to revenge. 

"After good dehberation, he began to describe me 
the countries beyond the falls, with many of the 
rest, confirming what not only Opecancanough 
but an Indian prisoner had before told me. But 
some called it five days [journey], some six, some 
eight, where the said water dashed amongst many 
stones and rocks, each storm which caused ofttimes 
the head of the river to be brackish. Anchana- 
chuck he described to be the people that had slain 
my brother, whose death he would revenge. He 
described also upon the same sea a mighty nation 
called Pocotronack, a fierce nation that did eat 
men and warred with the people of Moyaoncer and 
Pataromerk — nations upon the top of the head of 
the bay, under his territories, where the year before 
they had slain a hundred. He signified their 
crowns were shaven, long hair in the neck, tied on 
a knot, swords like pole-axes. Beyond them he 
described people with short coats and sleeves to the 
elbows, that passed that way in ships like ours. 
Many kingdoms he described me to the head of the 
Bay, which seemed to be a mighty river issuing 
from mighty mountains betwixt two seas. He de- 
scribed a country called Anone, where they have 
abundance of brass and houses walled like ours. 



92 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

"I requited his discourse, seeing what pride he 
had in his great and spacious dominions, seeing that 
all he knew were under his territories." [Captain 
Smith's meaning in this last sentence requires a 
little study. He means that as Powhatan was 
boasting very largely, he thought he also would 
boast as greatly.] He says: *'In describing to 
him the territories of Europe which were subject 
to our great King, whose subject I was, and the in- 
numerable multitude of his ships, I gave him to 
understand the noise of trumpets and terrible 
manner of fighting were under Captain Newport, 
my father, whom I entitled the Merowance which 
they call King of all the waters. At his greatness 
he admired and not a little feared." 

Probably neither of these men believed fully 
the boastful story told by the other. And yet 
Captain Smith still clung to the hope of discovering 
an outlet to the farther ocean by following up the 
course of one or another of the rivers that he found 
in Virginia. The Indians may not have been dis- 
honest in assuring him that there was such an out- 
let, for they had various fanciful traditions relating 
to regions beyond their own domain, which they 
apparently never tested. 



CHAPTER XII 

Captain Newport Arrives 

The strange and unfortunate condition of affairs 
in the little colony is more clearly indicated by the 
effect on Captain Smith's mind than even by a 
recital of the circumstances themselves. He had 
arrived almost at the Hmit of his patience with the 
incompetent, discontented, and unreasonable men 
with whom he was associated ; and he appears to 
have debated with himself whether he would not 
better drop the whole business right there and re- 
turn home. He writes: *' Whether it had been 
better for Captain Smith to have concluded with 
any of those several projects to have abandoned 
the country, with some ten or twelve of them who 
were called the better sort, and have left Mr. Hunt, 
our preacher, Master Anthony Gosnell, a most 
honest and industrious gentleman. Master Thomas 
Wotton, and some twenty-seven others of his coun- 
trymen, to the fury of the savages, famine and all 
manner of mischiefs and inconveniences (for they 
were but forty in all, to keep possession of this 

93 



94 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

large country), or starve himself with them for 
company, for want of lodging, or for venturing 
abroad to make them provision, or by his opposi- 
tion to preserve the action and save all their lives — 
I leave all honest men to consider." 

It must have occurred to Captain Smith that as 
by force of arms he had prevented others from aban- 
doning the colony, it would be ungracious, to say 
the least, for him now to do what he had so sternly 
forbade them to do. Still, the ruHng force that 
made him remain at his difi&cult task, with all its 
discouragements, was undoubtedly his own indomi- 
table spirit, his habit of meeting every emergency 
with a determined courage. By his allusion to 
those "who were called of the better sort'^ he means 
the gentlemen (as they ranked themselves), who 
were of little use there and should not have been 
permitted to cross the ocean with the real workers. 
Jamestown was a hive with too many drones. 
Probably those gentlemen had contributed to the 
cost of fitting out the expedition, and therefore 
they could not be refused permission to go with it. 

The duration of Smith's captivity among the 
Indians is stated variously — from a month to 
seven weeks. At the shortest, it was long enough 
for him to acquire a great deal of useful information 
concerning them and to learn considerable of their 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 95 

language. Because of this advantage and his 
brighter intellect and sound judgment, he under- 
stood the savages far better than any other member 
of the colony. His superior officer, Captain New- 
port, was too stupid ever to understand them at all, 
as was shown a Httle later by his strange method of 
trading with them. Smith had now learned when 
to be severe with the Indians, and when to be len- 
ient ; when to tell them the plain truth, and when 
to flatter them ; when to make them presents that 
pleased them, and when to prevent them from 
steaKng. Above all, he had learned how to trade 
to advantage with them. If he sometimes told 
them a rank falsehood, that was no more than was 
being done every day in the courts of Europe. It 
was three quarters of a century later (1682) when 
William Penn made the successful experiment of 
treating with the Indians on the basis of truth and 
gentleness. Yet it must be remembered that he 
had the advantage arising from the fact that in the 
mean time they had learned much of the number 
and power of the white men. And it was Captain 
Smith who began their education on this subject, 
which was continued by Miles Standish and his 
companions in Massachusetts. 

The general result of Captain Smithes captivity 
v/as apparently a good understanding and friendly 



96 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

feeling all round. Not only Pocahontas but several 
Indians came to Jamestown frequently, bringing 
liberal supplies of food, which were much needed 
by the colony. 

Meanwhile two ships, commanded by Captain 
Newport and Captain Nelson, with supplies and 
additional colonists, were sent out from England. 
Captain Nelson^s vessel, the Phoenix, was driven out 
of its course and much delayed in making the voy- 
age. But Captain Newport^s arrived in fairly good 
time and was very welcome. Smith had told the 
Indians what time Newport would appear, and he 
came just at the time to make the promise good. 
This seemed miraculous to them and they could 
only think he was inspired. Large numbers of 
them would come near the fort to trade, but they 
would not enter it, or come very close, till he came 
out in response to their call. They had all confi- 
dence in him, and they allowed him to fix the prices 
of all they had to sell. A serious drawback to 
this was the exhibition of a petty jealousy on the 
part of some of the colonists, who could not bear 
to look upon Smithes power with the Indians, 
when they did not share it. He was able to ex- 
change small quantities of such articles as the 
Indians desired for large quantities of their abun- 
dant provisions. 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 97 

But this advantage was soon lost after Newport's 
arrival. His sailors and the adventurers whom he 
brought went out among the savages, with an eager 
curiosity to see them, and in trading with them, 
unadvised and reckless, gave such prices as taught 
them to be exorbitant in their demands and 
thwarted the advantage that Smith had gained. In 
this matter. Captain Newport showed himself no 
wiser than the simplest sailor in his crew. For the 
quantity of grain that Smith could buy with an 
ounce of copper, they now frequently gave a pound. 
If spent at such a rate, of course the articles brought 
by the ship would not last long. The Indians be- 
gan to think that Smith had cheated them, and to 
look upon Newport as the really great man. 

Captain Smith now told Captain Newport what 
an exalted idea the Indians had of him, and that it 
would be greatly to the advantage of the colony 
if he paid a visit to Powhatan. This would give 
them an idea of the power and importance of the 
English people, and strengthen the friendship that 
was so happily begun. 

Captain Newport readily fell in with this sugges- 
tion. The pinnace was put in shape for a voyage 
in the bay, a crew and a guard of about forty men 
were chosen, and articles for trading were taken in. 
But before they arrived at their destination New- 



98 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

port's natural timidity took possession of him, 
and he was reluctant to proceed. All sorts of 
dangers loomed up in his imagination, from his idea 
of the treachery and cruelty of the Indians, and 
Smith had difi&culty in persuading him to continue 
the journey. The latter part of this was overland ; 
and whenever they came to a rude little bridge 
over a brook, Newport suspected that it was a trap 
for him, and that it would break down if he trusted 
himself on it. 

At length Captain Smith ofifered to go ahead, 
accompanied by twenty of the men, to meet what- 
ever dangers there might be in the wilderness, while 
Newport and the others should remain with the 
pinnace. This was agreed upon, and Smith set out 
at once. Though he was brave, he was also judi- 
cious, and he did not forget that there really were 
serious dangers. His men were all armed, and 
all wore tliickly padded jackets which were a fair 
protection against arrows. A company of Indians, 
led by the king's son Nantaquis, had met him at the 
landing and were accompanying him on the march. 
As they proceeded. Captain Smith kept the king's 
son and the chiefs all the time surrounded by his 
own men, so that any attempted treachery could 
be defeated at once. The Indians attempted 
nothing unfriendly, and probably they had not in- 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 99 

tended to. Nevertheless, Smith showed his wis- 
dom in not presenting to them any temptation by 
being careless or off his guard. 

Powhatan received the visitors in royal state. 
Smith says he was ''sitting upon his bed of mats, 
his pillow of leather embroidered after their manner 
with pearl and white beads, his attire a robe of 
skins as large as an Irish mantle ; at his head and 
feet a handsome young woman; on each side of 
his house sat twenty women, their heads and 
shoulders painted red, with a great chain of white 
beads about the neck. Before those sat his chief est 
men in like order in his arbor-like house, and on 
each side of the door stood a guard of twenty 
Indians with forty platters of fine bread. Four 
or five hundred people made a guard behind them 
for our passage, and proclamation was made that 
none, on pain of death, should presume to do us 
any wrong or discourtesy." Smith had great ad- 
miration for Powhatan. He says: ''His appear- 
ance is of such a majesty as I can not well express, 
nor yet have often seen, either in pagan or Chris- 
tian. With a kind countenance he bade all wel- 
come, and caused a place to be made by himself to 
sit.^' The Captain presented the great chief with 
a suit of red cloth, a greyhound, and a hat, which 
Powhatan accepted with an appropriate speech. 



lOO CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Water was brought for the guests to wash their 
hands, and then food. 

**But where is your father?" Powhatan asked 
— meaning Newport. 

"You shall see him to-morrow," Smith answered. 

"And where are the great guns that you prom- 
ised me?" 

Captain Smith reminded him of what he already 
knew, that the guns were too heavy for the Indian 
messengers to carry ; and Powhatan then said he 
would accept some smaller ones in place of them. 
Smith also reminded the chief that he had been 
promised corn and land. Powhatan assured him 
he should have them, but he expected Smith and 
all his men to lay down their arms at his feet, just 
as his own subjects did. The Captain said : "That 
is a ceremony that our enemies desire, but never 
our friends." 

Continuing, Smith asked Powhatan not to have 
any doubt of the sincere friendship of the English, 
and promised that Captain Newport would give 
assurances of that friendship the next day ; that he 
would present the great chief with a child of his 
own ; and that a force commanded by Smith him- 
self should subjugate two tribes that were Powha- 
tan's worst enemies. 

Thereupon Powhatan made another formal ora- 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES loi 

tion and honored Captain Smith by making him 
a werowance — that is to say, a sort of sub-chief 
under Powhatan — what we should call one of 
Powhatan's lieutenants. 

The condition of the tide prevented Smith and 
his men from getting to the pinnace that night, 
and they were obliged to remain Powhatan's guests. 
A large house was lent to them, and they were 
furnished with venison for supper. Smith himself, 
who took supper with Powhatan, says* ''He set 
before me meat for twenty men, and, seeing I could 
not eat, he caused it to be given to my men ; for 
this is a general custom — when they give, not to 
take again, but you must either eat it, give it away, 
or carry it with you. After supper two or three 
hours were spent in our ancient discourses, which 
done, I was lighted to my lodgings with a fire- 
stick" — he means a pine torch. 

Next morning Powhatan took Captain Smith to 
the river bank and proudly showed him his fleet 
of canoes, telling him that many of them were 
used to bring him tribute from various tribes around 
the shores of the Chesapeake. He said some paid 
in beads, some in skins, and some in copper. Smith 
says they had, that day, "many pretty discourses." 

There they saw Captain Newport approaching, 
and at once Powhatan took leave of Smith and 



I02 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

hurried away to his house that he might be pre- 
pared to give Newport a proper reception. When 
he, accompanied by Smith and his companions, 
reached Powhatan's — perhaps we ought to say 
palace, for kings, hke other mortals, have their own 
individual tastes — their reception was Hke that 
which had been given to Captain Smith on the 
previous occasion, perhaps a little more extended, 
with singing, dancing, oratory, and refreshments. 
Newport made Powhatan a present of a white boy 
named Thomas Salvage, passing him off as his own 
son ; and Powhatan gave him, in return, an Indian 
boy named Namontack, to be his body servant. 
Smith says this copper-colored lad was *' of a shrewd 
and subtle capacity," an expression that might be 
either complimentary or the reverse, according to 
the way in which the boy used his capacity. 

The colonists spent the night on their pinnace, 
and next day continued their visit with the chief, 
or Emperor, as they called him — and it lasted four 
or five days. Powhatan strongly objected to the 
fact that the men were armed. He asked Smith 
whether they doubted that he was sincerely their 
friend — if they did not doubt that, what were 
they afraid of? Then he called their attention to 
the fact that all his followers were unarmed. Cap- 
tain Smith answered that his men brought their 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 103 

arms because it was the custom of their country. 
Still, Powhatan was not satisfied, and therefore 
Captain Newport ordered his men to return to the 
boat. Smith, not knowing what foolish thing they 
might do if left alone, went with them. But this 
displeased the Emperor still more, for he was 
warmly attached to Smith and desired as much 
of his company as possible; besides which, he 
understood Smith's remarkable abilities and per- 
haps mistrusted what he might do as commander 
of those soldiers. Therefore Smith was recalled, 
and a Mr. Scrivener, who had come with Newport 
from England to be a member of the Council, took 
his place at the shore. Even then, Powhatan ap- 
peared to be somewhat uneasy in his mind. Smith 
and Newport therefore introduced the subject of 
trading, and this interested him. He thought he 
saw his opportunity, and perhaps he did. 

Smith tells us that Powhatan constantly "carried 
himself so proudly yet discreetly, in his savage 
manner, as made us all admire his natural gifts, 
considering his education." 

When the bartering was begun, in a compara- 
tively small and careful way, the Emperor said to 
Newport: "It is not agreeable to my greatness to 
trafiic for trifles in this peddling manner. And you 
too I consider a great werowance. Therefore lay 



I04 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

down all your articles together at once. I will 
then take such as I like, and in return will give you 
what I think is their value." 

Captain Smith saw the trick readily enough (he 
acted as interpreter, for Powhatan understood very 
Uttle EngHsh, and Newport no Indian), and he 
warned Newport that it was a scheme to cheat him. 
But the dull-witted Newport, probably intent upon 
maintaining a lofty dignity to match Powhatan's, 
laid out his entire stock of articles, as requested. 
The Emperor looked them over, took everything 
that he cared for, and in paying rated his corn at 
so high a price that Smith said it could be bought 
cheaper even in Spain. Captain Smith had ex- 
pected to get twenty hogsheads of corn for the 
articles, but Powhatan gave not more than four 
bushels. Newport saw that he had been tricked, 
was exceedingly mortified, and — as is usual with 
stupid persons — vented his anger, not on Pow- 
hatan, but on Smith, who had tried to save him 
from being swindled. 

But Captain Smith, as usual, was equal to the 
occasion. He got out a handful of blue beads, of a 
kind that the Indians never had seen, and, without 
apparently intending to show them, let Powhatan 
discover them in his hands. The old chief was 
attracted by the glitter and the unusual form of 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 105 

the beads, and immediately proposed to buy them. 
Smith said no, he didn't wish to part with them. 
They were made of a very rare substance, he said, 
of the color of the sky, and nobody in the world 
except the greatest kings was rich enough to buy 
them or was allowed to wear them. This, of course, 
made Powhatan all the more desirous of obtaining 
them, and Smith says he played upon the savage's 
fancy with such stories until he "made him half 
mad to be the owner of such strange jewels.'' At 
last he consented to part with some of them, but it 
must be at his own price, and for two pounds of 
them he got three hundred bushels of corn. Then 
Powhatan's brother, Opecancanough, thought that, 
as he was of royal blood, he ought to have some of 
the royal beads, and Smith consented to sell him 
a few at the same rate. Emperor Powhatan issued 
an order, or a decree, or a ukase — or whatever the 
Indians called it — that no one should presume 
to wear such beads except himself, his brother, and 
their wives and children. 

The great chief, though he continued to feed the 
whole company of white men most bountifully, also 
continued to object to their weapons. Captain 
Smith knew that this could only mean that he 
wanted them disarmed so that he and his horde of 
dusky warriors could rob them. One day he sent 



io6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

his son to ask that they would leave their arms in 
the boat, because his women were frightened by 
them ; and Newport, simple as usual, would have 
done as the chief requested, but Smith had twenty- 
five of the men carry their muskets. Powhatan 
was especially afraid of Smith's sword and pistol, 
and asked that he come without them, to which 
Smith answered: ''Those were the very terms of 
persuasion used by the men who afterward be- 
trayed us and slew my brother." So he retained 
his side-arms, sold more blue beads, and increased 
his store of provisions. 

The next morning the colonists, with much 
ceremony, took what was intended to be their final 
leave of Powhatan, who sent away all the women 
and all the men except the chiefs, because he wished 
for a confidential interview with Newport and 
Smith. Reminding them of their promise to make 
war on the tribe of Monacans, he said he was 
supposed to be on friendly terms with that people, 
and therefore it would be better for him and New- 
port not to appear to have anything to do with the 
attack. He would furnish a hundred warriors, and 
he supposed Smith could bring as many white 
men. Then his two sons and Opecancanough and 
Smith and Scrivener could command the forces. 
He would send spies to find out how strong the 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 107 

Monacans were and whether they were prepared for 
war. His plan was, that the whole force should go 
out on a pretended hunting expedition, and fall 
suddenly upon the unsuspecting Monacans. So 
sure was he of having this plan carried out, that he 
proceeded to say how the spoils should be divided — 
all the men of the Monacans were to be killed ; he 
would take the women and the young children for 
his share ; his brother and Captain Newport should 
have whatever else there might be that was worth 
taking. He intimated to Newport that if the 
Monacans were out of the way the road to the 
South Sea, which the English desired to reach, 
would be open and easy, and Newport was strongly 
inclined to beHeve the story. 

The colonists then went to pay a similar visit 
to Opecancanough and his people, and were re- 
ceived there also with honor and feasting. Pow- 
hatan requested them to return to him, saying he 
had learned that more supplies had been brought 
to Jamestown, and he wished to continue the 
trading. They were not willing to go back, and 
their host was not willing to have them go. Then 
Powhatan sent his daughter Pocahontas, and by 
her entreaties they were persuaded. In this sec- 
ond interview Powhatan gave Newport an Indian, 
who was to be his servant and go with him to 



io8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

England. Secretly Powhatan told the man that 
he must count all the persons he saw in England, 
so that he might know how strong the English na- 
tion really was. It is not certain that this was 
as foolish as it appears at first thought. Powhatan 
had no idea of a great city, but he knew about 
villages. Suppose the man, on returning home, 
was able to report that he passed through twenty 
villages, and that in one he counted five hundred 
persons. Powhatan was a good enough scholar to 
multiply five hundred by twenty. He must have 
known that a nation which could build and fit out 
such ocean-going ships as the colonists came in 
would consist of at least some thousands of persons. 
The man, as he counted the people in the streets, 
cut notches on a stick; but perhaps he cut only 
one notch for every ten or more. In fact, Captain 
Smith, in another book, tells us that these people 
always counted by tens. 

When the expedition returned to Jamestown, 
Newport set the men at work quarrying rocks for 
something that he thought was gold. Captain 
Smith, who knew the folly of it, protested vigorously, 
but in vain. Captain Newport was determined 
to carry home a good cargo of gold, and so he did 
— but it was ''fool's gold," which the scientists 
call iron pyrites, worth perhaps a few cents a ton. 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 109 

One of the company — may be Smith himself — 
wrote : '' Our gilded refiners, with their golden prom- 
ises, made all men their slaves in hope of recom- 
pense. There was no talk, no hope, no work but 
dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold — such 
a bruit [clamor] of gold that one mad fellow desired 
to be buried in the sands, lest they should by their 
art make gold of his bones. Were it that Captain 
Smith would not applaud all these golden inven- 
tions, because they admitted him not to the sight 
of their trials [tests of the substance that they dug 
up], nor their golden consultations, I know not ; but 
I have heard him oft question with Captain Martin 
and tell him that, except he could show him a more 
substantial trial, he was not enamored with their 
dirty skill. Breathing out these and many other pas- 
sions, never anything did more torment him than to 
see all necessary business neglected to freight such 
a drunken ship with so much gilded dirt." 

In the midst of this folly a serious disaster fell 
upon the colony. The winter (1607) was very 
cold, and the men carelessly made many fires, 
which soon resulted in a conflagration that de- 
stroyed nearly all the houses and the public granary 
where was stored the liberal stock of provisions 
that Smith had obtained from the Indians. The 
pahsades that had been put up as a defense were 



no CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

also burned. Incidentally it is recorded that 
^'Good Master Hunt, our preacher, lost all his 
library and all he had but the clothes on his back, 
yet none ever heard him repine at his loss." When 
we consider what that involved, we appreciate the 
justice of calling the clergyman ''good Master 
Hunt." Possibly he could get other garments, 
though they were none too plenty in Jamestown ; 
but the books were a dead loss. There was no book- 
store in Powhatan's dominions — not even a sec- 
ond-hand store, and no polite clerk who could say, 
^'We haven't those volumes in stock just now, but 
we can take your order and import them from Lon- 
don." It would be interesting to know what books 
he had. Of course he had a Bible, but it could not 
have been the King James translation (which we 
now call the authorized version) , for that was not 
pubHshed till 1611. Perhaps he had the Genevan 
Bible, which a great scholar calls ''the sweetest of 
all EngHsh versions." He may have had Shake- 
speare's masterpiece, "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," 
which was published separately three or four 
years before the Jamestown settlers sailed. A 
copy of it is now worth much money, but Mr. Hunt 
could have bought it for a very little. 

Newport's ship should have sailed for England in 
a week or two ; but the craze for gold detained it 



CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES iii 

fourteen weeks. Meanwhile, many of the colonists, 
having lost their provisions by the fire, bought small 
quantities of the sailors, who stole them from the 
ship's stores, and for those small quantities they 
had to pay enormous prices in furs, gold rings, 
spare garments, or anything that had a value. In 
consequence of these misfortunes and hardships, 
more than half of the colonists died that winter. 
Smith and Scrivener tried to correct the abuses, 
organize the necessary operations of rebuilding, 
and hearten their discouraged townsmen ; but the 
stupidity and senseless jealousy of the president and 
his followers prevented them from accomplishing 
much. It was, however, a relief to him that when 
the ship sailed he sent home in her those whom he 
called ^'lawyers." He writes triumphantly: " We 
not having any use of parhaments, petitions, ad- 
miralty [naval] recorders, interpreters, courts of 
pleas, nor justices of the peace, sent Wingfield 
and Captain Archer home with him that had en- 
grossed all these titles, to seek some better place of 
employment." 

When Newport was about to set sail he received 
from Powhatan a gift of twenty fat turkeys ; but 
it was such a gift as only an Indian would think of 
making, for the wily chief asked to have twenty 
swords in return. And Newport committed his 



112 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

crowning folly by promptly sending the weapons. 
*^ Against stupidity," said an ancient proverb, 
"even the gods fight in vain." Captain Smith, in 
a small boat, accompanied the outgoing ship as 
far as the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, probably 
to make sure of getting him far enough away from 
any opportunity to commit more follies. On his 
return Captain Smith stopped at Nansemond and 
made a treaty with the chief that ruled there. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Trouble with the Indians 

Though Newport and the lawyers had departed, 
Captain Smith's difficulties were not at an end. 
President Radcliffe and Captain Martin were in 
control, backed by a large number of the colonists, 
and they constantly showed themselves unfriendly 
to Smith. They were in possession of the public 
stores, and they used them or sold them as if they 
were their own private property. 

It was April when Newport sailed away. Smith, 
with Mr. Scrivener and a few others, planted the 
fields for a crop of corn, and then he assumed charge 
of the work of rebuilding the town. First he re- 
placed the defenses, and then he built the store- 
houses and the church. While they were at this 
task. Captain Nelson arrived with the Phcenix, 
which had been driven far south by a storm. This 
vessel brought a hundred and twenty additional 
colonists — including many workingmen, but also 
some of the useless "gentlemen" — and supplies 
for six months. In recording this event Smith 
1 113 



114 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

writes: "The happy arrival of Master Nelson in 
the Phoenix, having been then about three months 
missing, did so lavish us with exceeding joy that 
now we thought ourselves as our hearts could wish, 
both with a competent number of men as also for 
all other needful provisions." 

When the rebuilding of the town was completed, 
Captain Smith planned an expedition for exploring 
the country of the Monacans. He chose seventy 
of the best men, and instructed and drilled them in 
mihtary tactics. He says that after teaching them 
to "march, fight, and skirmish in the woods, their 
wilHng minds to this action so quickened their 
understanding in this exercise as in all judgments 
we were able to fight with Powhatan's whole force." 
The captain had made all arrangements for the 
expedition — arms and supplies for his company, 
and provision for the defense of the fort in his ab- 
sence — when the ruling powers, either from their 
usual habit of opposing him or from sheer timidity, 
forbade the enterprise. They said the right to 
make such explorations belonged to Captain New- 
port alone, and that Smith's plan was ill-timed 
and hazardous. 

Another clash came with the question of loading 
the Phoenix for her return voyage. Captain Mar- 
tin contended that she should be loaded only with 



TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 115 

the mineral that he called "gold," but Smith, 
Scrivener, and Captain Nelson insisted that a cargo 
of cedar would be more valuable, and they had their 
way. Nelson said he "would carry the gold, or 
dirt, when he had less charge and more leisure." 

About this time a change in the disposition and 
conduct of the Indians was noticeable. They had 
been very friendly — in appearance, at least ; but 
now they became thievish, insolent, and some- 
times actually hostile. Powhatan had so easily ob- 
tained twenty good swords from Captain Newport 
that he thought he might double his supply of arms 
in the same way from Captain Smith. Accordingly 
he sent Smith twenty fat turkeys, and asked for 
as many weapons in exchange. But the cunning 
chief soon learned that Smith and Newport were 
different men, and he did not get the weapons. 

Then began a system of petty thieving. Many 
Indians dropped in at Jamestown, one or two at a 
time, loafed about or mentioned some pretended 
errand, and picked up any tool, weapon, or other 
article that they could carry away. It was believed 
that they were acting under secret orders from 
Powhatan. They grew so bold that an Indian 
who was detected and dispossessed of his plunder 
one day would not hesitate to try it again the next 
day. Finally they would lay hands openly on 



Ii6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

anything that they fancied, and try to secure it by 
force. Smith says : ''By ambuscadoes at our very 
doors they would take things by force, surprise 
us at work, or any way, which was so long per- 
mitted they became so insolent there was no rule." 
The colonists were hampered by the command that 
was given to them as they left England, that they 
must not offend the Indians in any way. Perhaps 
this accounted, partly at least, for Newport^s timid 
conduct. Smith knew when it was better to break 
a rule than to obey it, especially if the rule were 
made by those who could not know all the circum- 
stances. He caught an Indian who had stolen two 
swords, and put him in irons. When the man was 
released he went away sullen, and returned a few 
days later accompanied by three others, all armed 
with wooden swords. Smith ordered them to 
leave, and when they threatened to attack him he 
promptly knocked one of them down. Then the 
others made at him, whereupon he drew his sword 
and drove them before him. Having done this, 
he called for a few soldiers and, marching out, drove 
every Indian off the island. 

Learning of this, the chief at Nansemond, down 
the river, returned a stolen hatchet; and Indians 
that had once been employed by the colonists came 
asking to be set at work again. 



TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 117 

Their reformation did not last long, however; 
for when Mr. Scrivener followed an Indian who had 
stolen a hatchet, the fellow drew his arrow and 
threatened to shoot. Two others attacked Cap- 
tain Smith, as he writes, "circling about me as 
though they would have clubbed me like a hare." 
He faced them boldly, dared them to touch him, 
and retired within the fort. When these and others 
followed him in, he summoned help, closed the 
ports, so that they could not get out, and then ar- 
rested sixteen of them. 

When Powhatan sent messengers to ask that his 
men be released, Smith answered that they would 
not be freed until all the weapons and tools that 
they had stolen were brought back, and if this were 
not done he would hang all his prisoners. A party 
of Indians ranging in the woods captured two colo- 
nists, and at once came to the fort and called out that 
they would hang them if the Indians were hanged. 
Smith promptly headed a company of soldiers who 
went out against the enemy and soon compelled 
them to give up the two captives. 

Then the imprisoned Indians were examined, 
under threat of death if they should not tell the 
truth, and they confessed — what Captain Smith 
had suspected — that there was a great conspiracy 
to destroy the whole colony. Powhatan and his 



Ii8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

subordinate chiefs were to keep up the appearance 
of friendship until Newport came again, for the chief 
wished to get back his man who had been sent to 
England. Then the Emperor was to make a great 
feast, invite the chief men of Jamestown, and make 
them all prisoners. Smith tells how he induced 
the Indians to confess : "I bound one in the hold 
to the main-mast and, presenting six muskets with 
match ^ in the cocks, forced him to tell. And we 
caused certain volleys of shot to be discharged, 
which caused each one to think that his fellows 
had been slain. . . . We learned that Paspahegh 
and Chickahamnia did hate us and intended some 
mischief, and who they were that took me, the 
names of them that stole our tools and swords, and 
that Powhatan received them, all agreed." 

Powhatan now realized that he was in serious 
danger, for he had learned not only that his Indians 
had confessed the plot, but that Captain Smith 
was daily drilHng his soldiers,"' evidently intending 
to move against his enemy. To concihate the 
whites, he sent the boy, Thomas Salvage, who had 
been given to him by Newport, to present a fine 
lot of turkeys to Smith and Scrivener and ask for 
the release of the captives. Smith simply detained 

^ Theare were no percussion caps in those days, and a musket 
was fired with a lighted match. 



TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 119 

the boy, and returned no answer. The Emperor 
then played his strongest card. Smith tells it thus : 
"Powhatan, understanding we detained certain 
savages, sent his daughter, a child ten years old,^ 
which not only for feature, countenance, and pro- 
portion much exceedeth any of the rest of his people, 
but for wit and spirit the only nonpareil of his 
country. This he sent by his most trusty messen- 
ger, called Rawhunt, as much exceeding in deform- 
ity of person, but of a subtle wit and crafty under- 
standing.'^ 

The message that Pocahontas and the dwarf 
brought from the Emperor to Captain Smith was to 
the effect that he greatly loved the Captain and had 
sent his best beloved child to ask that the captives 
be set free, for whose conduct he apologized, in 
that they were rash, unthinking men. The re- 
quest was accompanied by a handsome present of 
bread and venison. Some of the captives were 
from the tribe of Opecancanough, who also sent 
presents and asked for their release. Captain 
Smith did not care much for him, but he could not 
refuse Pocahontas. So he took them all into the 
church, where rehgious services were held, and then 
gave the prisoners to Pocahontas, at the same time 

^ Elsewhere Smith makes her age thirteen. It is impossible 
to reconcile the accounts. 



120 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

restoring to them their bows and arrows and what- 
ever else had been taken from them, not forgetting 
to present Pocahontas herself with a few trinkets. 
These, he told her, he ''gave to the King^s daughter, 
in regard of her father's kindness in sending her." 
It appears that Pocahontas was sometimes an ally 
of the British and sometimes a neutral, but always 
an advocate for humane treatment of captives. 



CHAPTER XIV 
Exploring Chesapeake Bay 

Captain Nelson^s ship, the Phoenix, sailed for 
England, June 8, 1608. Captain Martin was a 
passenger. Smith, to whom Martin's departure 
was a good riddance, says he ''was always sickly 
and unserviceable, and desirous to enjoy the credit 
of finding the gold mine." As when Newport 
sailed for home, in April, Captain Smith accom- 
panied the out-going Phoenix as far as the mouth 
of Chesapeake Bay. He went in a good-sized 
barge, having with him seven soldiers, six gentle- 
men, and Dr. Walter Russell. When he had taken 
leave of Captain Nelson and his crew, he set out 
to do what he had been prevented from doing a few 
weeks before — explore that great bay, the shape 
and shores of which were then unknown. 

He crossed the bay to Cape Charles, passing a 
small group which he named "Smith's Isles," and 
sailed northward along the eastern shore. He 
spoke with two Indians who stood on the shore 
watching the voyagers, and they directed him to 



122 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Accomac, where he found the best and most friendly 
chief that he had met. 

Smith was bent upon making a thorough explora- 
tion, and he entered every small bay or inlet that 
he came to. The weather was somewhat stormy 
and the water was rough, but such circumstances 
never daunted him. He looked especially for har- 
bors and drinking-water, the latter being hard to 
find. At one inlet where they landed the natives, 
after a little difficulty in the process of making 
acquaintance, entertained them with singing and 
dancing. Where they first found a pond of fresh 
water they named the place Point Ployer, "in honor 
of the most honorable house of Monsay, in Britain, 
that in an extreme extremity once relieved our 
Captain." 

A heavy storm compelled the company to go 
ashore on an uninhabited island, where they had to 
remain two days. The violent wind tore their 
sails, but they mended them with their shirts and 
resumed their voyage. Their next landing was on 
the eastern shore, where they ran a short distance 
up an inlet or river which they called Cuskarawook. 
Here the Indians climbed into trees and shot many 
arrows at the invaders, as they considered them. 
The next day the Indians came down to the shore 
and made signs of friendship ; but Smith, who 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 123 

distrusted them, answered with a volley of mus- 
ketry, and drove them away. The company landed 
later in the day, and found baskets of food, as well 
as indications that the conflict had been severe. 

The next day an immense number of Indians, two 
thousand at least, from several tribes, came down 
to the shore with signs of friendliness, and greeted 
the voyagers. They, like all others, were desirous 
of trading, for they had learned that the white men 
brought many articles that they delighted in but 
could not produce. Captain Smith pronounced 
them the best traders of all that region. He noted 
that they were of slight stature, which probably 
resulted from the small quantity of lime in the soil 
of their country. Lime is necessary for building 
the bones in the body, and it is observed that people 
who Hve in a country underlaid by limestone are 
usually tall and large-boned. They told him there 
was a great nation of Indians, named Massawo- 
meks, on the western side of the bay. Accordingly 
he crossed the water and spent the night at a place 
which he called Richard's Cliffs, near what is now 
known as the Patuxent River. Continuing his 
survey next day, he reached the mouth of a navi- 
gable river which he called the Bolus. This is 
supposed to have been the Severn, or perhaps the 
Patapsco. 



124 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

The men were all weary now, after ten days of 
rough work, and they asked that the barge might 
turn homeward. But Captain Smith said No. 
He would not return till he had met the Massa- 
womeks and found the river Potowomek (Potomac). 
He could not think of coming thus far and then 
going home without being able to report any im- 
portant discovery. 

His speech is reported apparently in full, and it 
deserves a place beside some famous ones that are 
better known. He said : " Gentlemen, if you would 
remember the memorable history of Sir Ralph 
Lane, how his company importuned him to proceed 
in the discovery of Moratico, then what a shame 
would it be for you that have been so suspicious of 
my tenderness to force me to return, with so much 
provision as we have, and scarce able to say where 
we have been, nor yet heard of that we were sent 
to seek. You can not say but I have shared with 
you in the worst which is past ; and for what is 
to come, of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am con- 
tented you allot the worst part to myself. As for 
your fears that I will lose myself in these unknown 
large waters, or be swallowed up in some stormy 
gust, abandon these childish fears, for worse than 
is past is not Ukely to happen, and there is as much 
danger to return as to proceed. Regain, therefore, 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 125 

your old spirits, for return I will not, if God please, 
till I have seen the Massawomeks, found Poto- 
womek, or the head of this water which you conceit 
to be endless." 

On they sailed, therefore, and on June 16 they 
reached the mouth of the Potomac, which is seven 
miles wide. They sailed up the river, as they reck- 
oned, about thirty miles before they saw any human 
being. Then they were hailed by four Indians, 
who induced them to enter a Httle river that here 
flowed into the Potomac. They had not gone far 
when they found themselves in the presence of a 
horde of savages, apparently waiting in ambush 
for them. Smith says they were strangely painted, 
grimed, and disguised, shouting, yelling, and crying, 
and so many evil spirits could not have appeared 
more terrible. A volley promptly fired from the 
muskets had the usual effect. The terrified natives 
threw down their bows and arrows, asked for peace, 
and became very friendly. 

All the Indians that the voyagers found on the 
shores of the Chesapeake spoke the same language, 
or dialect, as Powhatan, and they appeared to be 
under his rule. In the conference that took place 
here, these Indians told Smith that Powhatan had 
ordered them to attack him if he came their way, 
and that, as Smith in his narrative records it, he 



126 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

was "so directed from the discontents at James- 
town because our Captain did cause them to stay 
in their country against their wills." ^ 

Continuing up the stream, the voyagers came 
upon an Indian village called by the name of the 
river, Potowomek, at the mouth of a stream that the 
natives called Quiyough (probably what is now 
known as Acquia Creek, which has a deep channel 
ten miles long). Passing up this stream, they 
found what they called a mountain of antimony. 
The Indians were accustomed to get it to paint 
their faces, and they sold it in small quantities to 
other tribes for that purpose. Smith obtained a 
few bagfuls of it, and also traded for furs to a con- 
siderable amount. He tells a remarkable story of 
the fish in those waters. He says they were "lying 
so thick with their heads above water as for want of 
nets — our barge driving among them — we at- 

1 This is the statement that seems most incredible in Captain 
Smith's narrative, several of which have been questioned. He 
was the most energetic and resourceful man in the colony, and 
was their chief defense against the treacherous Indians. It is 
true that some of the colonists were jealous of him and hampered 
him ; but to say that they wished him and his fellow explorers to 
be killed when no ship was there to take them immediately home 
to England, is to say they were little better than idiots. It 
seems probable that Smith asked these Indians whether any of the 
colonists had made such a suggestion to Powhatan, and that they 
simply assented to whatever he asked. 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 127 

tempted to catch them with a frying-pan. But we 
found it a bad instrument to catch fish with. 
Neither better fish, more plenty, nor more variety 
for small fish had any of us ever seen in any place 
so swimming in the water. But they are not to be 
caught with frying-pans." Everybody discounts 
a fish-story. But if we discount this one as to the 
number of fish, at least we must give it credit for 
the original idea of the fr3dng-pan. 

In the Rappahannock Captain Smith caught with 
his sword a fish that was a curiosity to him. It 
was a stingray, as we learn from his description 
of it. He says it was ''much the fashion of a 
thornbeck, but a long tail Uke a riding-rod, whereon 
the midst is a most poison sting of two or 
three inches long, bearded like a saw on each side, 
which she struck into the wrist of his arm near an 
inch and a half." One authority says the stingray 
is not poisonous ; but the effect of the wound made 
by this fish indicates poison very emphatically; 
for Smith's arm and shoulder swelled greatly, and 
the pain was intense. One of his company wrote 
of the incident : *'It pleased God, by a precious oil 
Dr. Russell applied to the wound that his tor- 
menting pain was so assuaged that he ate of that 
fish to his supper." Yet the wound was still evi- 
dent and troublesome; for when, on the return 



128 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

voyage, the barge stopped at Kecoughtan, the 
Indians there inferred that he had been fighting 
the Massawomeks. Smith let them think so. 

The expedition arrived home on July 21, full of 
courage and hope for prosperity, since it had done 
much in the way of exploration and brought back 
a valuable cargo. The results of the voyage are 
plainly shown in Captain Smith's map of Virginia. 
But they found the colonists in a deplorable con- 
dition. Many were ill, all were dispirited, and some 
were bent on deposing President Radcliff e because 
he did not distribute the provisions fairly and re- 
quired the men to work on what we should call a 
summer cottage for himself. 

The good results of the expedition encouraged 
them, and they agreed to settle down in peaceful 
and harmonious conditions, provided Radcliffe 
were put out of the presidency and Smith made 
president in his stead. The captain, who was 
desirous of making another voyage, would not take 
the presidency, as that would require him to re- 
main at Jamestown. He therefore made Mr. 
Scrivener president, with trustworthy men to assist 
him, distributed the provisions fairly, and then was 
ready to set sail. 

In a few days he was off again, to complete his 
exploration of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 129 

Somewhere in the bay he encountered a dozen 
canoes filled with Indians of the Massawomek tribe, 
and a fight ensued immediately. Smith and his 
men were victorious, as usual, and then the Indians 
made them presents and asked to be considered 
friends. 

The voyagers then ascended a rivbr which it is 
hard to identify, and met another tribe, called 
Tockwoghs. They were surprised to find that 
these Indians had steel knives and hatchets, and 
pieces of brass and iron. In answer to inquiries, 
the Indians said they obtained those articles from 
the Susquehannocks, who Hved at the head of the 
bay and were a great people — great in two senses, 
very numerous and of gigantic size. Captain Smith 
sent them an invitation to come down and visit 
him, and they accepted the invitation, about sixty 
of them. They came bringing presents — v^enison, 
bows and arrows, baskets, and long tobacco-pipes. 

It was Captain Smith's custom to have prayers 
and the singing of a psalm every day, and the Sus- 
quehannocks happened to arrive just at prayer- 
time. They looked on with wonder, then held up 
their hands to the sun, and then embraced the 
Captain. They declared their love and veneration 
for him in a very strenuous voice and manner, 
gave him a bear-skin cloak, and hung a chain of 



I30 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

white beads around his neck. They called him 
their ruler and champion, and promised him much 
provisions if he would remain and assist them in 
their fight with the Massawomeks. They told him 
about several other tribes, one of which lived on a 
great water to the north — probably meaning the 
great lakes — and that their knives and hatchets 
came from the French. 

The Susquehannocks were said to have six him- 
dred fighting men," thus being one of the strongest 
of all the tribes. And they were somewhat more 
advanced than their neighbors, for they lived in 
villages, which were defended by palisades. 

In returning, the voyagers explored every inlet 
or creek, and at many places bored holes in trees 
and put in papers giving the fact of their discovery 
and the date, and here and there they put up a 
cross — some of brass, some of wood — to indicate 
that they took possession of the country as its first 
discoverers. 

On the Rappahannock they were entertained 
by another tribe, among whom was an Indian 
named Mosco, of singular appearance, for he had a 
large, fine, black beard. The Indians have no 
beards. By reason of his beard, Mosco claimed 
relationship with the English voyagers, and he be- 
came their friend and guide. He warned them 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 131 

against the Rappahannocks, saying they were 
hostile to his tribe and would be equally hostile to 
the English. Smith was not inclined to believe him, 
thinking he only wished to get all the trade for his 
own tribe. 

Accordingly they crossed the river, to make a 
call on the Rappahannocks. They first saw a 
dozen Indians on the shore, who directed them to a 
spot where were three canoes filled with provisions. 
But Smith was wary, and, as usual, he demanded 
an exchange of hostages before he would land and 
meet the tribe. After some parley, several of them 
waded out to the barge, bringing one of their men 
to leave as a hostage, and in return they received 
one of Captain Smithes men, Anas Todkill. As 
soon as Todkill was on shore he discovered that two 
hundred or more of the Indians were in the woods 
close by, evidently in ambush. He attempted to 
return to the barge, but they prevented him, and 
at the same time the Indian hostage jumped over- 
board and swam for the shore, but he had not taken 
many strokes when he was killed by a shot. The 
voyagers then gave the savages a volley, which 
scattered them, and Todkill escaped. Hundreds 
of arrows had been discharged at the barge, but 
none of the crew were struck. This was partly due 
to the fact that a friendly tribe had provided them 



132 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

with what Smith's narrative calls "targets," but 
we should call shields. These were made of small 
sticks interwoven with cords of hemp or grass, and 
made so compact and strong that an arrow could 
seldom pierce them. 

Captain Smith re-crossed to Mosco's tribe, and 
gave him the canoes and the arrows. He then ac- 
companied them as they went farther up the river. 
A company of the Rappahannocks here attempted 
again to ambush them. Smith says they had so 
hidden themselves with branches that they were 
taken for little bushes growing among the sedge. 
Arrows came at the voyagers from some unknown 
source, till Mosco told them where the enemy 
were, and then at a volley from the muskets the 
bushes fell and the savages disappeared. Just 
about the time that these Indians were concealing 
themselves with bushes, Shakespeare was writing 
his great play of ''Macbeth,'^ in the fifth act of 
which Macduff's army resorts to the same trick, 
thus fulfilling the prophecy that Birnam Wood 
(from which every soldier suppUed himself with a 
leafy branch) should come to Dunsinane. 

Other tribes were met with up the river, most of 
whom were friendly. But at one point where they 
landed to gather herbs and look for water, they were 
attacked by Indians in the trees. The muskets 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 133 

were brought into play once more, and the enemy 
fied, leaving one of their number badly wounded, 
on the ground. Mosco, Indian like, wished to kill 
him ; but he was prevented, and the doctor dressed 
the man's wound. The man was then questioned. 
He said his tribe had heard that the English came 
from under the world, to take their world from 
them. He was asked how many worlds there were, 
and he said he knew of none but that which lay 
under the sky, and his people and those around 
them were all that there were in it. He was asked 
what was beyond the mountains, and he answered, 
^'The sun.'' 

That evening men of the tribe to which the 
wounded man belonged, the Mannahocks, followed 
along the bank as the barge went down the river, 
sending their arrows at it through the dusk and 
now and then giving a loud war whoop which 
echoed through the forest. This was kept up for 
ten or twelve miles, till at daylight the barge came 
to anchor out of reach of the arrows. 

After breakfast the voyagers showed their 
prisoner to the crowd of savages on shore, and after 
a long negotiation the Indians hung their bows and 
arrows on the trees, and two of them swam out to 
the barge and dehvered their bows, arrows, and 
quivers as a proof of friendship. Captain Smith 



134 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

went ashore and asked for the chiefs. Four of these 
came, and Smith delivered to them their wounded 
man, whom they received with rejoicing. They 
then made the Captain all sorts of presents, and 
wanted the soldiers to give in return their pistols, 
which they supposed were fanciful tobacco pipes. 
Smith gave them other things instead, then there 
was singing and dancing, and all parted good friends. 
But before parting, Mosco and his friends had 
asked Smith to subdue the Rappahannocks and 
induce them to live in peace with their neighbors ; 
for that tribe was large and powerful, while Mosco's 
was weak. Captain Smith, very wilHng to do this, 
summoned the Rappahannocks to attend him for a 
conference, and several chiefs came. He showed 
them the advantage that he had in the use of fire- 
arms, and that he could destroy their crops and 
their villages if they were not friendly. Then he 
demanded that they bring to him the bow and ar- 
rows of their head chief and make a treaty of peace 
with the neighboring tribe, besides giving a son 
of the chief as a hostage. The chief answered that 
he had only one son and could not spare him ; but 
he said that tribe had stolen three women from his 
— which was the cause of the war between them — 
and instead of his son as a hostage he would let 
them keep them. Captain Smith caused the three 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 135 

women to be brought to him. He hung a string 
of beads on the neck of each of them, and then told 
the Rappahannock chief to take his choice. He 
then gave the second choice to the chief of the other 
tribe, and the third woman he gave to Mosco. 
This satisfied everybody, and the next day about 
seven hundred Indians, from both tribes, came to- 
gether, unarmed, for a great rejoicing, pledging 
perpetual friendship to one another and to the 
English. When the voyagers left them it was 
understood that the Indians would plant much 
corn for the colonists, and were to receive therefor 
many hatchets and beads and much copper. 

One more call the company made in that region, 
on the river that Smith calls the Piankatank. 
Here most of the men were absent, hunting, but 
from the old men and the women he received 
promises of corn whenever he should come for it. 

Then the barge turned her prow toward home. 
But suddenly there was a terrible storm that ap- 
peared hkely to send her to the bottom. They 
ran before the wind, steering by the flashes of 
lightning, and reached a welcome shelter at Point 
Comfort. They crossed the water that is now 
called Hampton Roads, and ascended Elizabeth 
River several miles, to make the acquaintance of 
the Chesapeakes, but found only a deserted village. 



136 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

They then sailed up Nansemond River, where the 
natives were evidently prosperous and appeared 
to be very friendly. One of them entered the barge 
and directed them to a pretty island, whereon he 
showed them his home, with his wife and children. 
Smith gave them some trinkets, which pleased 
them ; and then, leaving the man at his island 
home, the barge passed on. 

But very soon they found the stream much nar- 
rower and saw that they were followed by seven or 
eight canoes filled with armed Indians. Presently 
these began shooting at the voyagers, and at the 
same time there was a flight of arrows from the 
shore. A volley of musketry caused all the men in 
the canoes to leap overboard and swim for the shore, 
and another drove away those on the bank. The 
voyagers took possession of the abandoned canoes, 
towed them down the river to a place out of reach 
of bowshot, and there cut them in pieces. When 
the Indians witnessed this performance they threw 
down their weapons and made signs for peace. 
Captain Smith demanded that they bring him the 
bow and arrows of the chief, a string of pearls, and 
four hundred bushels of corn. When they refused 
these terms, he showed them that he could destroy 
all their houses and other property. Then they 
brought the corn, in baskets, and the voyagers 



EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 137 

took as much as they could carry. None of them 
had been hurt in the battle, but nearly a hundred 
arrows were sticking in their shields. 

Leaving these Indians with promises of friend- 
ship and good will, the company reached James- 
town early in September. One man had died on 
the voyage, Richard Featherstone, and was buried 
on the shore of a bay that they named for him. 



CHAPTER XV 

Coronation of Powhatan 

When the explorers returned to Jamestown they 
found that — as usual when Captain Smith was 
absent — the affairs of the colony were in bad 
shape. Only by the industry of Mr. Scrivener had 
the crops been gathered, and a large part of the 
provisions, improperly stored, was spoiled by rain. 
Some of the colonists were dead, others were ill, 
no work had been done, and RadcHffe was under 
arrest for mutiny. 

Almost immediately on his return Captain Smith 
was elected president of the colony. He could not 
refuse the office now, as it was evident that no other 
member could conduct it efficiently. He at once 
began the much-needed works. The storehouse 
and the church were repaired, the fort was made 
stronger and changed to ''a five-square form," 
buildings were erected to accommodate the suppHes 
that were soon to come from England, and the night 
and day watch was reestabhshed. Every Saturday 
he gave the whole company a military drill ''in the 

138 



CORONATION OF POWHATAN 139 

plain by the west bulwark." This ground was 
then named Smithfield. At the Saturday trainings 
there was always a large attendance of Indian 
spectators. 

The boats were repaired, and Lieutenant Percy 
was just setting out with a trading party to visit 
the Monacans when Captain Newport's ship ar- 
rived with a cargo of suppHes, and seventy persons 
to be added to the colony. The supplies were very 
welcome, so were some of the persons, others were 
not, and something else that Captain Newport 
brought was least welcome of all. Two of the new- 
comers were Captain Richard Waldo and Captain 
Wynne, who had been appointed members of the 
Council. Smith says they were ^'two ancient 
soldiers and valiant gentlemen, but yet ignorant 
of the business." In the company were two 
women, the first that joined the colony — Mrs. 
Forrest and Anne Burras, her maid. 

The instructions given to Captain Newport by 
the London Company were all as unwise as could 
have been devised ; they showed once more the 
folly of attempting to regulate minutely the affairs 
of a colony in an unknown land three thousand 
miles away. First, he had a special commission 
that authorized him, in certain circumstances, to 
act independently of the Council. Second, he was 



I40 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

not to return without bringing a lump of gold, a 
member of Raleigh's lost colony of Roanoke, or 
news of discovery of a passage to the South Sea. 
Third, and worst of all, he brought a crown for 
Powhatan and was commissioned to give that chief 
costly presents and crown him ceremoniously as a 
monarch. 

Captain Smith's comment is interesting: ^'How 
or why Captain Newport obtained such private 
commission as not to return without a lump of 
gold, a certainty of the South Sea, or one of the lost 
company sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, I know 
not ; nor why he brought such a five-pieced barge, 
not to bear us to that South Sea till we had borne 
her over the mountains, which how far they extend 
is yet unknown." 

Among the company were nearly twenty for- 
eigners, who were to receive wages and were sup- 
posed to be experts in manufacturing pitch, tar, 
glass, millstones, and soap ashes. Smith says 
these might have been useful after the colony had 
expanded into something like a state, but in the 
present circumstances they were simply seventy 
more men to be fed. 

In the meeting of the Council, Captain Smith 
vainly opposed the projects of crowning Powhatan 
and carrying a barge in sections over the mountains 



CORONATION OF POWHATAN 141 

to be put together and launched on the shore of the 
South Sea. His arguments were plain enough, as 
they dealt with actual conditions; but Newport's 
promises of the wonderful things he would do, espe- 
cially in bringing back immense suppKes of provi- 
sions, overbore all arguments, and the majority 
voted against Smith. Newport then intimated that 
Smith merely wished to be himself the commander 
of the expedition. To this Smith replied that he 
would go to Powhatan, taking only four men with 
him — "where Newport durst not go with less than 
a hundred and twenty" — and ask that chief to 
come to Jamestown to be crowned and receive the 
presents. Newport accepted his offer, and Smith 
set out at once. He went overland to Powhatan's 
capital, and found that the chief was thirty miles 
distant. While Smith was waiting for his return, 
Pocahontas entertained the guests. 

They were conducted to an open space, or glade, 
in the woods and were seated on a mat before a fire. 
Suddenly they heard a hideous noise of shouting 
and shrieking in the woods, and, supposing they 
had been trapped and were about to be murdered, 
they seized their arms and prepared for a fight. 
But Pocahontas came forward and assured them 
that no harm was intended — only a pleasant sur- 
prise and entertainment. Then out from the 



142 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

wood came thirty young women dressed in green 
leaves, their bodies painted (no two decorated 
ahke) , and on the head of each a pair of deer horns. 
One had an otter skin at her girdle and another on 
her arm, a bow and arrow in her hand, and a quiver 
full at her back. Another carried a sword, another 
a club, and so on, no two the same. Continuing 
their shouts and shrieks, they formed a ring around 
the fire, and for an hour danced in a variety of ways 
and sometimes sang. After this there was a feast, 
and then by torchHght the visitors were shown to 
their lodgings. 

Powhatan came home the next day, and Smith 
gave him the Indian whom he had sent to England 
as his representative, to count the inhabitants. 
The man had provided himself with a stick and a 
knife, and began cutting notches for the persons 
that he saw in the streets of London ; but he soon 
became bewildered and threw up the task. He told 
Powhatan that the EngHsh were as numerous as 
the leaves on the trees or the sands on the shore. 

Captain Smith then dehvered his message, in- 
viting Powhatan to go to Jamestown to receive his 
presents, be crowned, and make arrangements for 
an expedition against the Monacans. Powhatan 
assumed a lordly air and answered : '*If your King 
has sent me presents, I also am a king, and this is 



CORONATION OF POWHATAN 143 

my land. I will stay here eight days to receive 
them. Your father is to come to me, not I to him, 
nor yet to your fort, nor will I bite at such a bait. 
As for the Monacans, I can revenge my own in- 
juries. As for any salt water beyond the mountains, 
the stories you have heard from my people are 
false.'' 

It may be that Powhatan suspected a scheme to 
trap him ; but it appears likely that the main im- 
pulse for his speech came from the fact that New- 
port's treatment had given him an exalted idea 
of his own importance. Smith carried back this 
answer, and Newport at once made arrangements to 
comply with the chief's demands. He sent the 
presents to Powhatan by water — a hundred miles, 
while the two captains, with fifty soldiers, marched 
overland. 

Newport made arrangements to have the cere- 
mony as impressive as possible. The guards were 
drawn up in a square, and the appointed marshals 
were assigned to their places. The presents con- 
sisted of a bedstead and bed covering, a scarlet 
cloak, and a basin and ewer — what we should 
call a washbowl and pitcher. These were pre- 
sented with a show of dignified formality. Powha- 
tan was suspicious of the cloak, and could not be 
induced to put it on till the Indian who had visited 



144 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

England assured him that it was harmless. He 
could not be made to understand that a monarch 
should kneel to receive his crown, and they were 
obhged to put their hands on his shoulders and try 
to force him into the proper attitude. They made 
him stoop a little, and had to let it go at that. 
Captain Smith, who had stoutly opposed the un- 
wise scheme for the beginning, must have been 
amused as well as disgusted by the solemn farce. 
When a pistol shot announced that the coronation 
was complete, the men in the boats fired a volley 
as a miUtary salute to the sovereign. This fright- 
ened the venerable king and re-aroused his sus- 
picions; but Newport succeeded in calming him. 
He returned the great compliment by giving his 
old moccasins and mantle to Captain Newport, 
with eight bushels of corn. The captain had ex- 
pected to receive as much as the boats could carry. 
Captain Smith expressed his opinion of the affair 
in these words : ^' As for the coronation of Powhatan 
and the presents of basin, ewer, bedstead, clothes, 
and such costly novelties, they had much better 
well spared than so ill spent ; for we had his favor 
much better only for a plain piece of copper, till 
this stately kind of soHciting made him so much 
overvalue himself that he respected us as much 
as nothing at all.'^ 



CHAPTER XVI 
A Famous Letter 

Despite Captain Smith's warnings and objec- 
tions, Captain Newport insisted on the expedition 
to discover a route to the South Sea. He set out 
with a hundred and twenty men, going up the 
valley of James River, and plunged into the wilder- 
ness. They came upon two towns of the Monacans, 
but could not induce that tribe to let them have any 
provisions or do the least thing in the way of trad- 
ing. They found no gold, nor anything worth 
taking, but brought back something that they 
imagined to be silver ore. Forty miles of such a 
march gave them enough of it, then all returned. 

Smith now set them all at useful work for pro- 
ducing a cargo to send home to England. Some 
got pitch and tar, some made glass, some burned 
wood and made potash, and some went with him 
into the woods, where he taught them to fell trees 
and manufacture clapboards. He showed them 
how to be true lumbermen and sleep in the forest, 
and they enjoyed it and grew strong. One thing, 
however, they did not enjoy — using the axes 

^ I4S 



146 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

blistered their hands, and they sometimes grew 
profane thereby. Smith could not endure this, 
and he established a novel penalty. At evening, 
for every oath that a man had uttered that day, 
a can of cold water was poured down his sleeve. 

When Smith and his lumbermen returned to 
Jamestown he found that, as usual, nothing had 
been accomplished in his absence. He at once 
manned the barge, instructed Lieutenant Percy 
to follow in another, and set out for the Chicka- 
hominy to get provisions. When the Indians there 
refused to let them have any provisions, Smith 
boldly told them that his main purpose was to take 
vengeance on them for imprisoning him and mur- 
dering his companions. When he landed with his 
men and charged on them, the savages fled. From 
a safe distance they sent a quantity of corn, fish, 
and fowls, and asked to be forgiven and to make 
peace. This being granted, they loaded both barges 
to their full capacity with provisions. 

On arriving at Jamestown with this precious 
freight, which the colony sorely needed, Smith found 
that Radcliffe and Newport had been conspiring 
to depose him and even keep him out of the settle- 
ment. But they soon found, what they might have 
known, that he was no man to be trifled with, and 
they gave up. Smith says: ''Had not Captain 



A FAMOUS LETTER 147 

Newport cried peccaviy the president would have 
discharged the ship and caused him to have stayed 
one year in Virginia to learn to speak of his own 
experience." In the Council, Percy, Scrivener, 
Waldo, and some others stood firmly by Captain 
Smith. His chief difficulty was the constant pecu- 
lation by the sailors and soldiers, who stole tools, 
powder, and shot, and traded with the Indians for 
furs, baskets, and meat, intending to take the 
furs and baskets home to England and sell them for 
a good price. 

When the ship was freighted. Captain Smith 
wrote and sent by her a long letter addressed to the 
Treasurer and Council of the Plantation, in Eng- 
land. The letter, which sets forth the condition 
of affairs at Jamestown in a clear and convincing 
manner, told the home Council a very different 
story from the representations that had been made 
to them by Newport. It is one of the most famous 
letters in English literature. The greater part of 
it follows : — 

^' Right Honourable, &c. I received your letter, 
wherein you write, that our minds are so set upon 
faction, and idle conceits in dividing the country 
without your consents, and that we feed you but 
with ifs and ands, hopes and some few proofs ; as 
if we would keep the mystery of the business to 



148 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

ourselves ; and that we must expressly follow your 
instructions sent by Captain Newport, the charge 
of whose voyage amounts to near two thousand 
pounds, the which, if we cannot defray by the 
ship's return, we are alike to remain as banished 
men. To these particulars I humbly in treat your 
pardons if I offend you with my rude answer. 

"For our factions, unless you would have me 
run away and leave the country, I cannot prevent 
them: because I do make many stay that would 
else fly any whither. That we feed you with hopes, 
&c. — Though I be no scholar, I am past a school- 
boy ; and I desire but to know what either you and 
these here do know, but that I have learned to tell 
you by the continual hazard of my life. I have not 
concealed from you anything I know; but I fear 
some cause you to believe much more than is true. 

"Expressly to follow your directions by Captain 
Newport, though they be performed, I was directly 
against it ; but according to our commission I was 
content to be overruled by the major part of the 
council, I fear to the hazard of us all ; which now 
is generally confessed when it is too late. Only 
Captain Winne and Captain Waldo I have sworn 
of the council, and crowned Powhatan according 
to your instructions. 

"For the charge of this voyage of two or three 



A FAMOUS LETTER 149 

thousand pounds, we have not received the value of 
an hundred pounds. And for the quartered boat 
to be borne by the soldiers over the falls, Newport 
had 120 of the best men he could choose. If he 
had burnt her to ashes, one might have carried her 
in a bag, but as she is, five hundred cannot, to a 
navigable place above the falls. But during this 
great discovery of thirty miles (which might as 
well have been done by one man, and much more, 
for the value of a pound of copper at a seasonable 
time) they had the pinnace and all the boats with 
them, but one that remained with me to serve the 
fort. In their absence I followed the new-begun 
works of pitch and tar, glass, soap-ashes and clap- 
board, whereof some small quantities we have sent 
you. But if you rightly consider what an infinite 
toil it is in Russia and Swethland, where the woods 
are proper for naught else, and though there be the 
help both of man and beast in those ancient com- 
monwealths, which many an hundred years have 
used it, yet thousands of those poor people can 
scarce get necessaries to Kve but from hand to 
mouth. And though your factors there can buy as 
much in a week as will fraught you a ship, or as 
much as you please ; you must not expect from us 
any such matter, which are but as many of ignorant 
miserable souls, that are scarce able to get where- 



I50 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

with to live, and defend ourselves against the in- 
constant savages ; finding here and there a tree fit 
for the purpose, and want all things else the Russians 
have. For the coronation of Powhatan — by whose 
advice you sent him such presents, I know not; 
but this give me leave to tell you, I fear they will 
be the confusion of us all ere we hear from you 
again. At your ship's arrival the savages' har- 
vest was newly gathered, and we going to buy it, 
our own not being half sufficient for so great a 
number. As for the two ships-loading of corn 
Newport promised to provide us from Powhatan, 
he brought us but fourteen bushels, and from the 
Monacans nothing but the most of the men sick 
and near famished. From your ship we had not 
provision in victuals worth twenty pound, and we 
are more than two hundred to live upon this ; the 
one half sick, the other little better. For the 
sailors (I confess) they daily make good cheer; 
but our diet is a Httle meal and water, and not 
sufficient of that. Though there be fish in the sea, 
fowls in the air, and beasts in the woods, their 
bounds are so large, they so wild, and we so weak 
and ignorant, we cannot much trouble them. 

"Captain Newport we must suspect to be the 
author of those inventions. Now, that you should 
know, I have made you as great a discovery as he. 



A FAMOUS LETTER 151 

for less charge than he spendeth you every meal. 
I have sent you this map of the bay and rivers, 
with an annexed relation of the countries and na- 
tions that inhabit them, as you may see at large. 
Also two barrels of stones, and such as I take to be 
good iron ore at the least ; so divided, as by their 
notes you may see in what places I found them. 
The soldiers say many of your officers maintain their 
f amihes out of that you sent us ; and that Newport 
hath an hundred pounds a year for carrying news. 
For every master you have yet sent can find the way 
as well as he, so that an hundred pounds might be 
spared, which is more than we have all, that help 
to pay him wages. 

" Captain Radcliffe is now called Sicklemore, a 
poor counterfeited impostor. I have sent you him 
home, lest the company should cut his throat. 
What he is now, every one can tell you : if he and 
Archer return again they are sufficient to keep us 
always in factions. 

'*' When you send again I entreat you rather send 
but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fish- 
ermen, blacksmiths, masons and diggers up of trees' 
roots, well provided, than a thousand of such as we 
have ; for except we be able both to lodge them and 
feed them, the most will consume with want of nec- 
essaries before they can be made good for anything. 



152 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

" Thus, if you please to consider this account, and 
the unnecessary wages to Captain Newport, or his 
ships so long lingering and staying here (for not- 
withstanding his boasting to leave us victuals for 
twelve months, though we had eighty-nine by this 
discovery lame and sick, and but a pint of corn a 
day for a man, we were constrained to give him 
three hogsheads of that to victual him homeward), 
or yet to send into Germany or Poland for glass 
men and the rest, till we be able to sustain ourselves, 
and relieve them when they come, — it were better 
to give five hundred pound a tun for these gross 
commodities in Denmark than send for them hither, 
till more necessary things be provided. For in over- 
toiling our weak and unskillful bodies, to satisfy 
this desire of present profit, we can scarce even 
recover ourselves from one supply to another. 
And I humbly intreat you hereafter, let us know 
what we should receive, and not stand to the sailors' 
courtesy to leave us what they please; else you 
may charge us what you will, but we not you with 
anything. These are the causes that have kept us 
in Virginia from laying such a foundation that ere 
this might have given much better content and 
satisfaction : but as yet you must not look for any 
profitable return. So I humbly rest." 



CHAPTER XVII 

Murderous Plots 

There were now two hundred persons in the 
colony, and more than half of them were incapable 
of doing anything in the way of raising the desired 
crops and caring for them. It was necessary to get 
more from the Indians, but it was learned that 
Powhatan had instructed his people not to supply 
the colonists. Those at Nansemond, who had 
promised Smith four hundred bushels of corn when- 
ever he should visit them, now pretended to have 
forgotten the promise and said they had no corn 
to spare. It was only by landing armed men and 
burning one of their houses, with a threat to de- 
stroy the whole village, that he made them keep 
their promise. 

Captain Smith now made up his mind that the 
only way out of the difficulty was to deal in some 
effectual way with Powhatan directly. He there- 
fore resolved to surprise him and take possession of 
all his store of provisions. Just then Powhatan 
sent a messenger to invite the Captain to visit him, 

153 



154 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and he asked for workmen to build him a house 
like those of the English. He also wanted fifty 
swords, several guns, and a grindstone, for which 
he said he would give a shipload of corn. 

Smith sent two EngHshmen and four Dutchmen 
to build the house, but no swords or muskets. He 
then fitted up two barges and the pinnace, and 
with forty-six men sailed for Werowocomoco in 
December, 1608. Their first stop was with a 
friendly tribe, the chief of which gave them provi- 
sions and warned them against Powhatan, who, he 
said, was simply planning to get them into his 
power and cut their throats. At what is now 
Hampton they spent Christmas very merrily with 
a friendly tribe. A little beyond that place they 
found wild pigeons so plenty that they are said to 
have killed a hundred and forty-eight with three 
shots. Perhaps they did. 

They arrived at Werowocomoco in the middle of 
January (1609), and found the river frozen over for 
half a mile from the shore. It was an unusually 
hard winter. But they managed to break through 
the ice, and sent word to Powhatan that they 
wanted provisions. He responded promptly with a 
generous quantity, and the next day he received 
them hospitably, feasted them, and then inquired 
when they were going to leave. He denied that he 



MURDEROUS PLOTS I55 

had sent for Smith, and said he had no corn to 
spare. He might let him have, say forty baskets 
for forty swords, but no more. When the Captain 
confronted him with the men by whom he had sent 
the invitation, the old chief laughed and asked to 
see what articles Smith had brought. He was not 
pleased with any of them, said he did not care for 
copper, he wanted only swords and muskets. 

Then followed a debate between the two com- 
manders, which consisted in a series of long speeches 
saying the same thing over and over again, for both 
were talking against time. Smith saw plainly 
enough that Powhatan was dishonest and was 
planning to entrap him, for the Indians that gath- 
ered around were continually increased in number 
and were pressing closer. The gist of Smith's 
argument was, that he had always been friendly 
to Powhatan and had traded fairly with him, 
while Powhatan had not kept his word and had told 
the minor chiefs not to let the colonists have any- 
thing. The gist of Powhatan's argument was, that 
if Smith were really friendly he would leave his 
guns at home ; that the sight of them scared his 
women and made all his people uneasy ; and that 
this was his country and he suspected the EngHsh 
intended to take possession of it. 

Smith had but one man with him in the imme- 



156 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

diate presence of the Indians ; eighteen of his men 
were on the shore, and the others were in the boats. 
He did not know then, what he learned afterward, 
that the Dutchmen whom he sent to build Pow- 
hatan^s house had turned traitors. At the end of 
the debate, when the savages had completely sur- 
rounded the place, Powhatan, leaving some of his 
women to talk with the Captain, managed to slip 
through the crowd and disappeared. Smith and 
his companion, Russell, saw plainly what was 
coming. Drawing their swords and with their 
pistols shooting the nearest, they made a passage 
among the Indians and at the first shot, the nearest 
tumbled one over another, and the rest quickly fled. 
The next day Powhatan sent a man to present 
a bracelet and a chain of pearls to Captain Smith 
and deliver an explanatory oration. He said the 
great number of Indians were there merely to protect 
the corn from being stolen ; that Powhatan still 
remained friendly and wished him to send away 
his boats with their load of corn, and send away his 
guns also. The ebbing of the tide made it neces- 
sary for the colonists to stay over one more night, 
and some of the Indians amused them with the 
usual songs and dances. When they were gone 
Pocahontas appeared alone, and told Captain 
Smith not to attend the feast to which he was 



MURDEROUS PLOTS 157 

invited, for Powhatan's plan was to fall upon him 
and his men and murder them all. She also re- 
vealed the treachery of the Dutchmen. Then she 
iied away, as she had come, through the dark 
forest. 

Early next morning the expedition set sail for 
Jamestown. But Smith, not wishing as yet to pro- 
claim any open rupture with Powhatan, left one 
man, who was to shoot wild fowl for the chief. 

As soon as Smith's company sailed, Powhatan 
sent two of the Dutchmen overland to Jamestown, 
who arrived there before the barges. They told 
Captain Wynne that all was well between Smith and 
Powhatan, and that Smith had sent them for guns, 
tools, and clothing, all of which Wynne thought- 
lessly gave them. He should have known that 
Smith would not have sent men on such an extraor- 
dinary errand without a written order. It seems 
as if Captain Smith always had to contend with 
hostility in front and treachery and stupidity in the 
rear. Besides the things that the Dutchmen got 
in this way, they obtained others stealthily by the 
connivance of some of the sailors, and the Indians 
who were always lurking around the fort carried 
them away. 

The expedition made several stops to obtain 
additional supplies. One of these was at the home 



158 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

of Opecancanough, who planned to murder Captain 
Smith and the fifteen men who went ashore with 
him. When warriors to the number of nearly or 
quite seven hundred had surrounded the little band, 
Smith addressed the chief in these words: "I see 
your plot to murder me, but I fear it not. As yet, 
your men and mine have done no harm. There- 
fore take your weapons; you see mine. The 
island in the river is a fit place, if you be contented. 
There let us two fight it out, and the survivor shall 
be lord and master over all our men. Let your 
men bring, each of them, a basket of corn, against 
all of which I will stake the value in copper, and the 
conqueror shall take the whole.'* Opecancanough 
decUned the challenge, denied that he had any 
hostile intentions, and invited Smith to come to 
his cabin and receive a valuable present. The 
Captain knew better than to go alone. Instead, 
he went with all his men, muskets in hand ready 
to fire. They entered the house where the chief 
was to entertain him, the men guarded the doors, 
and then Smith suddenly seized the chief by the 
scalp lock, dragged him away from his bodyguard, 
and putting a loaded pistol to his breast held him till 
he dropped his weapons and promised to pay trib- 
ute. Then, still tightly holding the scalp lock, the 
Captain addressed the Indians, who had looked on 



MURDEROUS PLOTS 159 

amazed and intimidated. That their great chief 
could be handled and humiliated in that manner 
was a startling revelation to them. ** Pamunkees," 
he said, ''I see the great desire you have to kill 
me. I promised, before the God I serve, to be your 
friend till you give me just cause to be your enemy. 
If I keep this vow, my God will keep me, and you 
cannot harm me. If I break it, He will destroy me. 
If you shed the blood of any of my men, or steal any 
of these things that I have brought, I will not cease 
from revenge so long as one of your nation is left 
alive. You promised to freight my ship, and you 
shall do it, or I will load it with your dead bodies. 
If as friends you come and trade with me, I will 
not trouble you, and your king shall be free and 
shall be my friend.'' 

Then they all set to work — men, women, and 
children — and loaded the boats with provisions. 
The Captain, being now very tired, lay down for 
a little sleep. Again it appeared that his men 
could not be depended upon except when he was 
with them ; for the guards were careless and neg- 
lected their duty, and he suddenly woke to find 
the house full of savages armed with clubs and 
swords. Springing up, he, with a few of his men, 
soon drove out the intruders by skillful sword- 
play. 



i6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

It happened that while Captain Smith was ab- 
sent on this expedition Mr. Scrivener planned a trip 
to an island in the river, the object of which never 
was known to any but him and his companions. 
He induced Captain Waldo, Mr. Gosnold, and eight 
other men to go with him. The weather was fear- 
fully cold, the wind was violent, and the boat was 
swamped. There was Httle chance for a long 
swim in that freezing water, and every man 
perished. Indians recovered the bodies and 
brought them to the fort. 

It was considered desirable to send the news of 
this disaster to Captain Smith, who was supposed 
to be still with Pov/hatan, and one man, Richard 
Wyffin, volunteered for the service. He made his 
way there overland, and at once discovered that 
Powhatan was preparing for war. To prevent 
him from going away with this knowledge, the 
chief arranged to have him killed. But Pocahon- 
tas told him of his danger, hid him, sent his pur- 
suers off in a wrong direction, and then showed 
him the way to travel through the forest till he 
found Captain Smith. Powhatan had ordered his 
people to kill Smith, by whatever means, and they 
tried in vain, all along the shores, to inveigle him 
into ambush. They also made an attempt to 
poison him and his company, and almost succeeded. 



MURDEROUS PLOTS i6i 

He sent one of his boats home, and with the other 
two turned back, intending, by a bold stroke, to 
capture Powhatan and carry him away a prisoner. 
But he found that the great chief had abandoned 
his new house and gone to some unknown place, 
taking with him all his supplies. Captain Smith 
then returned to Jamestown, where he landed five 
hundred bushels of corn and two hundred pounds of 
venison. For these he had given twenty-five 
pounds of copper, fifty pounds of iron, and some 
beads. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
Discipline 

Captain Smith found, on his return, the usual 
evidences of shiftlessness and lack of thrift. Large 
numbers of the tools were missing, and the provi- 
sions in the storehouse had been allowed to get 
wet and were rotting. But he had brought enough 
to last till the next harvest. 

He at once put the whole colony under discipline. 
He divided the men into companies of ten or fifteen, 
and assigned to each company its special duties. 
They were required to work six hours a day. To 
some who complained and were disposed to be 
mutinous he made an address in which he said : 
"You see now that power resteth wholly in myself. 
[He was the only surviving member of the Council.] 
You must obey this for a law, that he that will not 
work, unless he is disabled by sickness, shall not eat. 
The labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious 
men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred 
and fifty idle loiterers. '^ He prepared a register 
containing every man*s name, on which was re- 

162 



DISCIPLINE 163 

corded a statement of their daily conduct; and 
this was kept in a public place, where all could 
see it. 

Despite his vigilance, the stealing of powder and 
shot, tools, and weapons continued, and he knew 
that the Dutchmen and the Indians must have 
confederates inside the fort. The Dutchmen sent 
one of their number, disguised as an Indian, to con- 
fer with some of their confederates on a scheme for 
capturing or killing Captain Smith. The scheme 
was suspected, and a party sent out from the fort 
captured the pretended Indian. While they were 
doing this, Captain Smith chanced to meet alone 
the chief of Paspahegh, who was arranging an 
ambush for him. The chief was a gigantic fellow, 
but Smith closed with him at once. It was a 
grapple for life, and was nearly an even match. 
The savage edged along to the river, hoping to 
drown his antagonist ; but after they had struggled 
for a time in the water. Smith got a grip of the 
fellow's throat, and so tightened it that he was 
forced to give up. With his sword drawn. Smith 
drove him into the fort, and there put him in chains. 
The disguised Dutchman also was imprisoned. 
The chief escaped in a little while. The Dutch- 
man also escaped, or was freed, after Smith left the 
colony. 



l64 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Going out to punish the Paspaheghans, for their 
attempt to ambush and kill him, Captain Smith 
burned some of their houses, and took away their 
boats and fishing weirs. When a large body of 
them came out to oppose him and discovered that 
it was Smith, when they had expected only to en- 
counter Captain Wynne, they threw down their 
arms and asked for peace. Their spokesman re- 
minded Smith that if they were friendly the colo- 
nists could always get provisions from them ; but 
if he insisted on fighting them and destroying their 
houses, they would remove to another country and 
leave that land desolate. They said their chief 
had been after Wynne, not Smith. Then peace 
was agreed to. 

It happened that an Indian who had stolen a 
bag of gunpowder and the backpiece of a suit of 
armor gathered his friends around him to show them 
how well he understood the white man's weapons. 
He had seen the soldiers drying wet powder, so he 
placed his powder on the piece of steel armor and 
made a fire under it. Presently there was an ex- 
plosion which killed him and three others. This so 
frightened the Indians and aroused their super- 
stition that they would have no more to do with 
such things. They sent back many articles that 
had been stolen, and Powhatan added many pres- 



DISCIPLINE 165 

ents and asked for a permanent peace, which thence- 
forth was established. 

With Captain Smith in complete control of the 
colony, it thrived at last. Tar, pitch, and potash 
were produced in large quantities, glass was made, 
a well was dug from which a supply of excellent 
water was obtained, fish nets were woven and set 
in the river, twenty houses were built, the church 
was repaired, and a blockhouse was put up where 
no one could visit or leave the fort without passing 
it and showing a permit signed by the president. 
Forty acres more were put under cultivation, and 
the stock of pigs and poultry was increased. Cap- 
tain Smith made every man work six hours a day, 
and provided means of rest and entertainment for 
the other hours. 

But their stock of corn, which had been im- 
properly put up in casks, was damaged, and they 
were obliged to giYQ up for a time some of their in- 
dustries to supply themselves with fish and game 
on which to live through the winter. This ap- 
peared too hard to some of them, and they became 
mutinous. Captain Smith punished the ringleader 
and then made to the others an oration that caused 
them to submit and settle down to work, and once 
more they became prosperous. 



CHAPTER XIX 
A New Charter 

While Captain Smith was struggling with these 
difficulties and bringing the unfortunate colony to 
its first prosperity, the incompetents who had gone 
home to England made so many complaints and 
told such damaging stories about him that a new 
charter was obtained from the King and a company 
was organized to take the place of the one whose 
history we have been following. The charter, 
which was issued to the Earls of Salisbury, South- 
ampton, Suffolk, Pembroke, and others, bore date 
May 23, 1609. Lord Delaware was appointed 
Captain General of the colony, and associated 
with him were Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George 
Somers, Sir Thomas Dale, Sir Ferdinando 
Wainman, and Captain Newport. A large number 
of titled men and knights joined them, making the 
whole company about five hundred, who set sail 
in nine vessels. Gates, Somers, and Newport were 
each furnished with a commission, and the one 
that first arrived in Virginia was to be commander, 
the other two commissions being then worthless. 

166 



A NEW CHARTER 167 

These three commissioners, not being willing to 
enter into a race across the ocean, all embarked in 
the same ship, the Sea Venture. It happened that 
a hurricane drove them upon the Bermuda Islands. 
All got away soon after the storm except the Sea 
Venture, and seven vessels reached Jamestown ; one 
had foundered. 

The story of this wreck was used by Shakespeare 
for the last play that he ever wrote, ''The Tem- 
pest," and no other work of his has any connection 
with the western world. The Bermudas were some- 
times called the Somers Isles, from Admiral Somers. 

Among the men that came by these ships were 
several of those with whom Captain Smith had had 
difficulty and whom he had been glad to see de- 
parting for England. Here they were again — 
Archer, Martin, Radcliife, and others. This was 
too much for any patience and any courage. 
Smith was still president, for the new charter was 
with those who were wrecked in Bermuda; but 
he had no heart to attempt doing anything more 
for the colony, and the men just mentioned took 
it upon themselves to assume authority and attempt 
managing governmental affairs. A wild mess they 
made of it, and then Smith, in consideration for 
the peaceful and orderly part of the colony, asserted 
his authority and put the leaders in jail. Then he 



1 68 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

separated the newcomers and sent one company 
of them to the rapids of the James — the present 
site of Richmond — equipped to establish there a 
new settlement, while he sent another, under Cap- 
tain Martin, to Nansemond. Martin got into 
trouble with the Indians, who overcame him and 
took away his provisions. And the settlement at 
the rapids also was a failure. 

Captain Smith had already determined to return 
to England, and was making arrangements to that 
end, when he became the victim of a serious 
accident. While he slept in his boat, a bag of 
powder was exploded by some mischance, and his 
flesh was badly lacerated. To alleviate the pain 
he sprang into the river and was in danger of 
drowning when he was rescued. Everything in 
Jamestown, from which he had been temporarily 
absent, was in dire confusion. Wounded as he 
was, he exerted himself to do something for the 
colony, while at the same time the mutineers planned 
his assassination. This would have been accom- 
plished had not the heart of the appointed murderer 
failed him at the last moment. Smith had stanch 
friends, who gathered round him and proposed to 
execute the conspirators ; but the Captain forbade. 

After doing what he could for the safety of the 
settlement, Captain Smith placed the government 



A NEW CHARTER 169 

in the hands of Mr. Percy, and sailed for England 
in the autumn of 1609. He left in the colony four 
hundred and ninety persons; when the commis- 
sioners who had been wrecked in the Sea Venture 
arrived at Jamestown, in the spring of 1610, in two 
vessels they had built, they found but sixty alive. 
The colonists, persisting in their disregard of 
Smith's instructions and entreaties, had taken no 
pains to secure crops, relying upon the Indians for 
supphes; and when Smith was gone the Indians 
refused. A company commanded by Samuel 
Argall, bribing an Indian with a copper kettle, 
managed to capture Pocahontas and take her to 
Jamestown, where they held her for several months 
to induce Powhatan to ransom her with an abun- 
dant supply of corn and a return of all the fire- 
arms and tools. But that great chief refused. 
While Pocahontas was in captivity at Jamestown 
she was converted to Christianity and received in 
baptism the name Rebecca. There also she met 
John Rolfe, an EngUshman, who fell in love with 
her, and there in April, 1613, with Powhatan's 
approval they were married. In 161 6 they visited 
England, where she was well entertained and was 
called Lady Rebecca. Captain Smith wrote a 
long letter to the Queen, bespeaking a cordial 
reception for Mrs. Rolfe (Pocahontas), and setting 



I70 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

forth her admirable character and valuable serv- 
ices. In it he gave this testimony: ''When her 
father sought to surprise me, the dark night could 
not affright her from coming through the irksome 
woods, and with watered eyes gave me intelli- 
gence with her best advice to escape his fury, 
which, had he known, he had surely slain her. 
Jamestown, with her wild train, she as freely 
frequented as her father's habitation ; and during 
the time of two or three years she, next under God, 
was still the instrument to preserve this colony from 
death, famine, and utter confusion." 

Pocahontas was received at court and was made 
much of by some families of the nobility. At this 
time Shakespeare's friend, Ben Jonson, who a 
little later was made poet laureate, was accustomed 
to write the masques (spectacular plays) which 
were enacted before the court at Christmas. At 
the one for Christmas, 1616, Pocahontas was the 
guest of the queen. An unpleasant episode of 
her stay in England was her meeting with Captain 
Smith. He regarded her, and knew she was so 
regarded by the king, as the daughter of an 
emperor, and he also knew that King James was 
a stickler for even the smallest royal prerogative. 
Hence he was afraid to seek her in London, lest 
it might appear that he was using his friendship 







'land excui 
Courtesy of The Ontury Co. 

Pocahontas. 
(Known as the Rolfe portrait.) 



A NEW CHARTER 171 

with her to thrust himself into the court circles. 
Pocahontas did not understand this; and when 
Smith called on her at Branford she sorrowfully 
turned away, and a little later chided him for his 
neglect of her. He writes: *'She remembered 
[reminded] me well what courtesies she had done, 
saying: 'You did promise Powhatan what was 
yours should be his, and he the like to you. You 
called him father, being in his land a stranger, and 
by the same reason so must I do you ' — which, 
though I would have excused, I durst not allow of 
that title, because she was a king's daughter. 
With a well set countenance she said : ' Were you 
not afraid to come into my father's country and 
cause fear in him and all his people except me, and 
fear you here I should call you father ? I tell you 
then I will, and you shall call me child, and so I 
will be for ever and ever your countryman.' " So 
spoke this loyal friend to Captain John Smith and 
his colonists. In June, 161 7, as she was about 
to embark for America, she was taken ill and 
died. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, became a noted 
man in Virginia. John Randolph of Roanoke 
was one of his descendants. 

Captain Smith spent four and a half years in 
England, and published his " Map of Virginia, 
with Description and Appendix," in 161 2. 



CHAPTER XX 

New Ventures 

While we have little direct testimony as to 
Captain Smith's life during those four or five years 
in England, there are some things that we can 
readily infer. His first care must have been to 
keep quiet and have his wounds attended to by a 
skillful physician. This would take some time. 
From the fact that the Virginia Company had 
been re- chartered and given to a new set of direc- 
tors, we may know that there was nothing more 
for him there. So many complaints had been 
carried home by the discontented among the 
colonists and those whom he had had occasion to 
oppose or discipline, that it was quite natural for 
the owners in London to think a change was 
required. How unwise, or at least unfortunate, 
this action was, may be seen from a very few facts. 
As has been told above, Captain Smith had at last 
produced order and industry at Jamestown, and 
he left the colony with nearly five hundred persons ; 
yet, from lack of his energy and skill, when the 

172 



NEW VENTURES 173 

Sea Venture arrived with the new governors, only 
sixty remained aHve. And the continual changes 
in the next six years tell a plain story of inefficiency. 
Mr. Percy gave up the command to Sir Thomas 
Gates, who in turn gave it up to Lord Delaware, he 
to Percy again, he to Sir Thomas Dale, he to Gates 
again, he to Dale again, and he to George Yearley. 
Their relations with the Indians became so hostile 
that they suffered from fire and massacre, and could 
get no provisions from them. The anger of 
Powhatan was so roused that Pocahontas had no 
longer any influence in favor of the colonists. 

Despite all the complaints against Smith, and 
all his misfortunes, he had many earnest friends 
and admirers. When he was restored to health, 
he succeeded in forming a company of four London 
merchants, for another venture across the stormy 
Atlantic. When we consider that down to Smith's 
time, more than a century after the discovery of 
America, the vessels in which such expeditions put 
to sea would appear ridiculously small to us, we 
are reminded of Clough's rollicking verses: — 

"How in heaven's name did Columbus get over, 
Is a pure wonder to me, I protest — 
Cabot and Raleigh too, that well-read rover, 
Frobisher, Dampier, Drake, and the rest. 
Bad enough all the same 



174 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

For them that after came ; 

But, in great heaven's name, 

How he should ever think 

That on the other brink 
Of this wild waste Terra Firma should be 
Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me." 

Captain Smith's friends, the four merchants, fitted 
out two vessels and in March, 1614, sent him out 
on a trading voyage to the coast that was then 
called North Virginia. They must have had strong 
faith in Smith's abiUties, for they did this with 
knowledge of the fact that seven years before the 
Plymouth Company had sent a colony to the 
coast of Maine, which was given up after the 
experience of one winter, and the colonists brought 
back most doleful stories of the coast, the savages, 
and the climate. 

Smith and his men were to fish for whales at 
sea, and look for mines of gold, silver, and copper 
on shore. He had little expectation of finding any 
mines — remembering his experience in Virginia — 
but he did think to take whales. In this he was 
disappointed. He says they saw many whales, 
and spent much time in chasing them, but could 
not kill any. They then fished for cod and traded 
with the Indians for furs. Eighteen of his men, 
fishing a month, took sixty thousand cod. Smith, 



NEW VENTURES 175 

with eight men, went up and down the coast in an 
open boat, landing at various points, and by trading 
with the Indians obtained more than ten thousand 
beaver skins, and a few hundred of marten, otter, 
and others. Also he made a map of the coast and 
took notes of all the information he could obtain 
concerning the country. It was called by the 
various names North Virginia, Canada, Pemaquid, 
and Nurembega; but he gave it the name New 
England, which it retains to this day. Probably 
the Pilgrims, who, six years later, crossed the 
Atlantic and settled in Massachusetts, availed 
themselves, as far as possible, of Smith's informa- 
tion. It is notable that at this time he cherished 
no plan of colonization — he had had enough of 
that at Jamestown. He was looking only to the 
opportunities for profitable trading. When he 
arrived in England, after an absence of six months, 
he landed a cargo that was sold for £1500, which 
was worth about as much as $35,000 in our day — 
a fair return for the venture. 

Captain Smith returned to England with only 
one of the vessels. The other he left with Captain 
Thomas Hunt, ordering him to carry his cargo of 
fish to Spain and sell them there. But here again 
Smith had his usual ill luck. It appears to have 
been impossible for any of his subordinates to obey 



176 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

his orders when they were out of his sight. In- 
stead of simply following Smith's instructions, 
Captain Hunt managed to get twenty-four Indians 
on board, made them prisoners, and then sailed 
away for Spain, where in the port of Malaga he 
sold them as slaves. Up to this time the Indians 
along the New England coast had been very 
friendly with European voyagers, eager to trade 
with them, and helpful in various ways. Such 
treachery as Hunt's went a long way toward 
changing the dusky friends into cruel and cunning 
enemies, and Hunt's act probably added materially 
to the dangers and sufferings of the Pilgrims who 
came after him. 

Captain Smith presented his map and his 
narrative to Prince Charles (afterward King 
Charles I), and asked that the new names he had 
given to the various places indicated on the map 
might be made official and permanent. What 
is now Cape Ann he wished to call Cape Tragabig- 
zanda, for the lady who had befriended him in 
Turkey; and what is now Cape Cod he would 
name Cape James, for the king. The group of 
islands off the coast of New Hampshire he named 
Smith's Isles, but they are now known as the Isles 
of Shoals. On one of these islands there is a small 
monument to his memory. Whatever answer 



NEW VENTURES 177 

Prince Charles gave concerning the place names is 
not recorded ; but the formation or development of 
a language never has been within the power of 
royalty — at least, not to any extent, though in 
our own day the Russian emperor has changed St. 
Petersburg to Petrograd. 

When Captain Smith returned to England from 
his fishing voyage he landed at Plymouth, and 
thereby came misfortune to him. He talked too 
freely of his experiences, and the Plymouth Com- 
pany engaged him for another voyage. This dis- 
pleased the London Company, who thought he 
should have remained with them. The South 
Virginia Company took advantage of the informa- 
tion so thoughtlessly given, and quickly sent out an 
expedition of four vessels, under a Captain Cooper 
(after Captain Smith had declined the command), 
bound for the newly discovered fishing grounds. 
Smith tells that he strove to bring together in one 
organization the London Company and the Plym- 
outh Company, *' because the Londoners have 
most money, and the western men are most proper 
for fishing; and it is near as much trouble, but 
much more danger, to sail from London to Plym- 
outh than from Plymouth to New England. 
Yet by no means could I prevail, so desirous were 
they both to be lords of this fishing." 



178 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

The Plymouth Company had promised to fur- 
nish Smith with four vessels, these to be ready to 
sail by Christmas. But when he came down from 
London to Plymouth at that time, the vessels were 
not ready, and the company had lost enthusiasm 
for the enterprise. Smith had brought six friends 
who were to sail with him, and also all the money 
he could raise (about a thousand dollars), and he 
set to work at once to carry out the scheme. He 
put all his money into it, accumulated supplies for 
the voyage, and engaged men. By this means and 
with the help of friends, he fitted out two vessels — 
one of two hundred tons and one of fifty — and 
included in his company were sixteen persons who 
intended to settle in New England and found a 
colony. Captain Smith had now got back to his 
old favorite idea of colonizing and thus securing 
the new land for his own country. He declared 
emphatically that he would not spend any more 
time in fishing or exploration till he could go with 
a company for a plantation. In one of his wisest 
passages he had written on this subject : — 

*^It was the Spaniards' [meaning the early 
explorers] good luck to happen in parts [Mexico 
and Peru] where such was the number of people as 
to enable them so to improve the earth that it 
afforded food at all seasons. And time had brought 



NEW VENTURES 179 

their arts to so much perfection as to give them 
the free use of gold and silver, together with most 
of those commodities which the country was able 
to afford. What the Spaniards got was chiefly 
the spoil and pillage of the people, and not the 
labors of their own hands. But we chanced in a 
land even as God made it, where we found only an 
idle, improvident, and scattered people, ignorant 
of the knowledge of gold and silver, and careless 
of anything but from hand to mouth. Nothing 
was here to encourage us but what nature afforded. 
And this could not be brought to recompense our 
pains, defray our charges, and satisfy our adven- 
turers, until we could discover [explore] the country, 
subdue the people, bring them to be tractable, 
civil and industrious, and teach them trades, so 
that the fruits of their labors might make us some 
return; or until we could plant such colonies of 
our own, whose first necessity would be to make 
provision how to live themselves.'' 

Captain Smith here shows that he had a broad 
and just view of the whole situation in America. 
But probably he did not dream that it would re- 
quire more than two centuries to subdue the North- 
American Indians and make them civil and indus- 
trious. From the beginning of history there have 
been prophecies based on forecasts as wise as 



l8o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Smithes ; but it is a notable fact that nearly every 
prophecy has waited longer for its fulfillment than 
anybody supposed it would. 

The two vessels sailed from Plymouth in March, 
1 615; but when about three hundred miles out 
they were struck by a violent storm and lost sight 
of each other. One of them went through the gale 
without serious damage and made a profitable 
voyage. But the one that Captain Smith com- 
manded in person was used very roughly. Her 
masts were snapped off and she leaked so badly 
that the crew had to be kept constantly at the 
pumps. She could hardly have been seaworthy at 
the beginning. They rigged up a jury mast — 
that is, one for temporary use — and managed to 
get back to Plymouth. They must have been good 
sailors to get into that harbor with a ship in such 
condition ; for the dangerous Eddystone rocks lay 
directly in their path, and the famous lighthouse 
had not yet been built on them. 

Nothing ever daunted Captain Smith, and he 
at once looked for another vessel. He found one 
of sixty tons, and with thirty men he sailed once 
more, on June 24, 161 5. 

He encountered on the high sea a piratical vessel 
twice as large as his own, which carried thirty-six 
guns, while he had only four. His officers begged 



NEW VENTURES i8i 

of him to surrender, as they thought a refusal 
would be answered by a broadside that would 
send them to the bottom. But Captain Smith 
was not the man to surrender ; he determined to 
fight at all hazards. However, when the vessels 
had approached near enough, some of the leaders 
among the pirates recognized Smith and offered 
him the command of their ship. Some of the crew 
were mutinous, they were short of provisions, and 
they had little hope of any restoration of harmony 
among them. The officers were not equal to their 
task. Captain Smith did not care to give up his 
expedition for the command of a ship in such a 
deplorable condition, and therefore they parted 
company. 

Some days later he encountered two more pirate 
vessels. These were French. His men were even 
more frightened than before, and refused to work 
the guns. They thought that with two antagonists 
they would only meet certain destruction if they 
fired a shot. But Smith had not lost his old habit 
of determination. He lighted a torch and told his 
crew that unless they stood by manfully for a 
fight he would set fire to the magazine and blow 
up the ship, rather than surrender to any pirate. 
Then they went to the guns and gave the pirates 
one volley after another, while at the same time 



i82 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

they sailed away from them as fast as they could. 
After a long running fight, Smith won the race and 
escaped with little damage. 

Misfortunes never come singly, says the old 
adage. Smith had not been long out of sight of 
the pirates when he was chased and captured by 
four French men-of-war. He went aboard the 
flagship and showed his papers, which proved his 
vessel to be neither piratical nor Spanish — the 
kind that the French cruisers were searching for. 
Nevertheless, for a few days they held him as a 
prisoner, robbed his vessel, and took his crew into 
their own. Then, for some unknown reason, they 
returned everything to him, and he was about 
to resume his voyage when he was asked to go 
aboard the flagship again. This he did, and while 
he was there a strange sail came in sight and at 
once all the French vessels gave chase, leaving 
Smith's vessel far behind and at last out of sight. 

His going aboard the flagship the second time 
was the result of a trick played by two of his officers. 
They had been discontented and insubordinate 
from the beginning almost, and they told the French 
commander privately that when their vessels should 
arrive on the banks of Newfoundland Smith would 
take his revenge on the French fishermen there. 
He was kept on the French man-of-war all summer, 







jiniiiftiyiKffli fflatftfaHigHiianiSMPna 



Coi>imght,VM',, bii Jamextinrn Ojficiul I>}iotv 
Corporafian. 

Pocahontas Memorial Window, 
St, John's Church, Hampton. 

Contributed in part by the Indian 
Pupils of Hampton Institute. 



NEW VENTURES 183 

and he learned that she was as much a pirate as a 
naval cruiser. To comfort himself as well as to 
improve the time, Ve there wrote a history of his 
voyage to New England and a description of that 
country so far as he had explored it. This was 
published in London the next year (16 16). 

Whenever the ship was fighting with a Spanish 
ship, Captain Smith was called upon to take part, 
which he did. But when an English ship was 
encountered he was not only excused from fighting 
his own countrymen but was confined as a pris- 
oner — probably because of fear that he might 
in some way betray the ship into their hands, or 
damage something, instead of assisting. 

The French admiral had promised to release him 
at the Azores, but did not do so. There was 
another opportunity to land him when the ship 
was near Rochelle, but still it was not done. He 
was accused of burning a French settlement in 
America — which was really done, not by him, but 
by Captain Argall — and was treated so harshly 
that he determined to escape by one means or 
another. On a dark, stormy night he got into the 
boat and cut loose from the ship. He had only a 
handspike for an oar, and, despite every effort, 
a current or the tide carried him out to sea. But 
at the end of twelve hours the tide and the wind 



i84 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

both turned and he was driven ashore on a little 
island. Here he might have perished from cold 
and hunger, but next day he was discovered and 
rescued by ''certain fowlers'' — men who were 
hunting sea birds. Meanwhile the French ship 
had been driven ashore in the storm, and her 
captain and many of her crew were drowned. 

Captain Smith pawned the boat in which he had 
escaped, and thus raised money to get to Rochelle. 
There he placed before the naval court his com- 
plaint against the officers who had captured and 
held him, and his story was corroborated by some 
of the survivors of the wrecked man-of-war. He 
received fair promises, but no real redress, even 
when he sought the aid of the English ambassador. 
Perhaps this was because the judge considered the 
fact that those who could tell the other side of the 
story — if it had any other side — had all perished 
in the wreck and could not be there to defend 
themselves. Smith says that from the wreck goods 
came ashore and were saved, of a value that in 
our day would be equal to about $90,000 of our 
money. He made a claim on this, as damages for 
his arrest and detention, but could not get any- 
thing. He also says that the French man-of-war, 
pretending to be only in pursuit of Spaniards (who 
prevented French trade in the West Indies), really 



NEW VENTURES 185 

acted as a pirate and captured any valuable prize 
of whatever nation. Our knowledge of sea manners 
in those days makes his story very probable. 

By chance he met an old friend named Crampton, 
who readily assisted him in his need ; and by 
Smith's handsome appearance and good manners 
he gained a new and helpful friend. This was a 
lady, Madame Chanoyes, of Rochelle. No doubt, 
when he met this lady, his charms of person and 
manner were greatly heightened by the story of his 
adventures — exactly as in the case of Othello, 
who says : — 

"I ran it [the story] through, even from my boyish days, 
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, 
Of moving accidents by flood and field, 
Of hairbreadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach, 
Of being taken by the insolent foe 
And sold to slavery. . . . This to hear 
Would Desdemona seriously incline." 



CHAPTER XXI 

Smithes Last Years 

When Captain Smith got back to Plymouth he 
found that his mutinous crew, to justify themselves 
before the authorities, had fixed up a story to the 
effect that they parted from him because they 
found that he intended to become a pirate and make 
pirates of the whole ship's company, and they, of 
course, were too honest to consent to this! They 
Uttle dreamed that he would ever appear again in 
England. He tells us that he succeeded in having 
the leaders imprisoned, and some of the others con- 
fessed the truth. 

Smith planned another voyage to New England, 
and he traveled widely in England distributing two 
of his books that treated of the trans-Atlantic 
country, hoping to arouse sufficient interest in his 
scheme to command the necessary money for its 
expense. Though at one time he was promised 
a fleet of twenty ships, he never received any of 
them and never sailed again. But those who made 
that promise gave him the title of Admiral of 

i86 



SMITH'S LAST YEARS 187 

New England. There were chartered companies in 
London that received many copies of his books and 
could easily have afforded to furnish him with all 
that he asked for. Some of them made offers on 
condition of receiving the greater part of the abun- 
dant plunder which they supposed would be taken 
from the Indians. But Captain Smith, who never 
had gone out to seek plunder, rejected such offers 
at once. He had made known the value of the 
fisheries and shown the way to them. That value 
is so great that they have been the subject of im- 
portant treaties between the United States and 
England. Of his enterprises and adventures he 
says: "They have been to me as children; they 
have been my wife, my hawks, my hounds, my 
cards, my dice, and, in total, my best content." 
And again he writes : " In neither of these two coun- 
tries have I one foot of land, nor the very house I 
builded, nor the ground I digged with my own 
hands, nor any content or satisfaction at all. And 
though I see ordinarily those two countries shared 
before me by them that neither have them nor 
know them but by my descriptions, yet that doth 
not so much trouble me as to hear and see these 
contentions and divisions which will hazard if not 
ruin the prosperity of Virginia if present remedy 
be not found." 



i88 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

This was emphatically true. The mismanage- 
ment of Smithes successors at Jamestown had won 
them the intense hatred of the Indians ; and Pow- 
hatan's successor, Opecancanough, a very able 
chief, planned a conspiracy very Hke that of Pontiac 
a century and a half later. The most important 
part of Pontiac's scheme was frustrated by an 
Indian girl who warned the EngKsh of it; but in 
Virginia there was now no Pocahontas to perform 
that service, and four hundred of the settlers were 
massacred. Captain Smith offered to go again to 
Virginia and subdue the Indians and secure the 
safety of the colony, if he could be furnished with 
the necessary means and one hundred and thirty 
good men well armed. He intended to instruct 
them and use them as wood rangers. But his offer 
was not accepted, and after a few years there was 
another massacre and five hundred colonists per- 
ished. 

If any of us still have an inclination to discount 
the story of Captain Smith's abilities and achieve- 
ments, let us listen to one good witness who can- 
not be impeached. In 1612 Richard Pots, Clerk 
of the Council of Jamestown, wrote thus of Captain 
Smith: ''What shall I say? — but thus we lost 
him that in all his proceedings made justice his 
first guide and experience his second ; ever hating 



SMITH'S LAST YEARS 189 

baseness, sloth, pride and indignity more than any 
dangers ; that never allowed more for himself than 
his soldiers with him ; that upon no danger would 
send them where he would not lead them himself ; 
that would never see us want what he either had or 
could by any means get us ; that would rather want 
than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved 
actions more than words, and hated falsehood and 
cozenage worse than death ; whose adventures were 
our Hves, and whose loss our deaths." 

He spent his remaining years, till he died, in Lon- 
don, June 21, 1 63 1, in writing books, of which he 
published nine, some of them being partly repeti- 
tions and enlargements of earlier ones. These 
include "A Sea Grammar," which attained a high 
reputation, and ''Advertisements for the Unex- 
perienced Planters of New England," which was 
pubHshed the year that he died. He was a some- 
what clumsy writer ; but he always had a story to 
tell, and if he had had command of a good literary 
style his works might be not only classic but popu- 
lar to this day. He sometimes attempted poetry 
as well. His best poem, which is entitled ''The 
Sea-Mark," is, perhaps, better than some that 
were written by his famous contemporary poets. 
This, his swan song, hints at his loneUness, his mis- 
takes, his hardships, and his hope of final reward. 



190 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

The Sea-Mark 

Aloof, aloof, and come not near ! 

The dangers do appear 

Which, if my ruin had not been, 

You had not seen. 

I only lie upon this shelf 
To be a mark to all 
Which on the same may fall. 

That none may perish but myself. 

If in or outward you be bound, 

Do not forget to sound. 

Neglect of that was cause of this 

To steer amiss. 

The seas were calm, the wind was fair, 
That made me so secure, 
That now I must endure 

All weathers, be they foul or fair. 

The winter's cold, the summer's heat, 

Alternatively beat 

Upon my bruised sides, that rue 

Because too true 

That no relief can ever come. 

But why should I despair. 

Being promised so fair 
That there shall be a Day of Doom? 



INDEX 



Alba Regalis, siege of, 13. 

Appreciation of Smith's charac- 
ter, by Richard Pots, 188. 

Argall, Samuel, imprisons Poca- 
hontas, 169. 

Authors, Smith's favorite, 6. 

Battori, Prince Sigismund, in 

battle, 16; gives money to 

Smith, 39. 
Beads, Smith wins Indians with, 

104. 
Bermuda Islands, fleet driven 

ashore on, 167. 
Boys, exchange of, 102. 

Callamata, Lady, $6. 
Cannons and grindstone, 88. 
Captivity of Smith, in Turkey, 

31 e^ seq.; in Virginia, 77 et 

seq. 
Chanoyes, Madame, befriends 

Smith, 185. 
Chaos in the colony, 173. 
Charter, a new, for the colony, 

166. 
Chesapeake Bay explored by 

Smith, 121 et seq. 
Chickahominy, Smith's first 

excursion to the, 71 ; second, 

74; captured there, 77. 
Clough, A. H., quoted, 173. 



Colonization in America, early 

attempts at, 46 et seq. 
Conspiracy, Smith subdues a, 

71; plotted by Indians, 117. 
Council of Jamestown colony, 

first appointed, 59. 
Cramp ton, Mr., befriends Smith 

in France, 185. 

Dare, Virginia, 53. 

Deaths in the colony, 66 and 

passim. 
Delaware, Lord, appointed 

Captain General, 166. 
Discipline, Smith enforces, 162 

et seq. 
Drake, Sir F., 52. 
Duels, Smith fights three, 17 

et seq. 
Dutchmen, treacherous, 156. 

England, Smith's return to, 169 ; 
his last years there, 186 et seq.; 
death in London, 189; au- 
thorship, 189. 

Escape to the French coast, 
Smith's, 183. 

Fiery dragons. Smith invents, 13. 
Fire, destructive, in Jamestown, 

109. 
Fishing with frying-pans, 127. 



191 



192 



INDEX 



French man-of-war, Smith cap- 
tured and held by a, 182. 

Frenchmen, adventure with 
three, 7. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, last 

voyage of, 49. 
Girke, Smith wounded at, 15. 
Gold, digging for, 108. 
Gosnold, Bartholomew, objects 

to location, 63; drowned, 

160. 
Grenville, Sir R., 51. 
Gunpowder, Indians intend to 

plant, 83; Indians playing 

with are killed, 164; Smith 

injured by, 168. 

Holy Isle, Smith ill on, 5. 

Hume, David, 4. 

Hunt, Rev. Robert, peacemaker, 

65; loses his library, no. 
Hunt, Capt. Thomas, steals 

Indians and sells them, 176. 

Indians, attack the colony, 62 
and passim; successful fight 
with, 69; one sent to count 
the English people, 107, 142 ; 
a very strange one, 130. 

James River, first explored, 61 ; 

expedition ascends, 145. 
Jamestown founded, 64 et seq. 
Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, i . 
Jonah, Smith as a, 9. 

Kendall, John, expelled from the 

Council, 67. 
Kissell, Baron, 11 et seq. 



Lane, Ralph, 52. 
La Roche, Capt., 9. 
"Lawyers," Smith's disposal 

of, 89. 
Leadership in the colony. Smith 

succeeds to, 69. 
Letter, a famous, 147 et seq. 
Lindisfame Island, 5. 
Lipswick, Smith travels to, 39. 
Longfellow, H. W., quoted, 49. 

Meldritch, Earl, Smith enhsts 
with, II ; captures a bashaw, 

IS- 
Mercoeur, Due de, 13. 
Merham, Capt., Smith sails 

with, and finds he is a pirate, 

41. 
Military drills, 139. 
Monacans, proposed war on, 

106. 
Mosco, a strange Indian, 130. 
Moyses, Gen., victorious, 24; 

deserts to the enemy, 25, 

Nalbrits, Smith sent to, 31. 

Names, Smith's proposed, for 
New England places, 176. 

Nansemond, fight on the, 136. 

Nelson, Capt., arrives in the 
Phoenix, 114. 

New England, Smith makes a 
voyage to, 174; plans an- 
other in vain, 177; named 

by, 175- 
Newport, Christopher, com- 
mands first expedition to Vir- 
ginia, 57; arrives at James- 
town with suppHes, 96; his 



INDEX 



193 



stupidity and timidity, 97 ei 
seq.; gives swords for turkeys, 
1 1 1 ; brings a boat in sections 
and presents and a crown for 
Powhatan, 139. 

Olumpagh, battle of, 12. 
Opecancanough, Smith taken 

before, 77; challenged by 

Smith, 158. 
Othello quoted, 185, 

Palaloga, T., 7. 

Paspahegh, Smith's encounter 
with, 163. 

Percy, Mr., made president of 
the council, 169. 

Pirates, Smith encounters, 9, 
181. 

Plots, murderous, 153 et seq. 

Ployer, Earl of, 8. 

Pocahontas, saves Smith's Hfe, 
86; begins visiting James- 
town, 89; question of her 
age, 119; warns Smith of a 
plot to assassinate him, 156; 
saves life of R. WyfiSn, 160; 
imprisoned by Argall, 169; 
converted, receives the name 
Rebecca, marries John Rolfe, 
and goes to England, 169; 
meets Smith at Branford, 
170; his eulogy of her, 170; 
her death, 171 ; her descend- 
ants, 171. 

Potomac River discovered, 125. 

Powhatan, Smith visits, 85 ; he 
and Smith exchange big 
stories, 90 et seq.; cheats 



Newport twice, 104, 144; 
crowned, 143. And passim. 
Presidency of the Council, 
Smith elected to, 138, 

Radcliffe, John, chosen presi- 
dent of the Council, 67; 
deposed, 128; called Sickle- 
more, 151. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, his expedi- 
tions, 50 et seq. 

Rappahannocks, encounters 
with the, 131 et seq. 

Regal, battle in plain of, 17 
et seq. 

Religious services in the colony, 
129. 

Rewards of valor. Smith's, 21. 

Rodoll, Lord, made waywode, 

25- 
Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 

169. 
Russell, Dr. W., 121, 127. 

Scrivener, Mr., made president 

of the colony, 128; drowned, 

160. 
Sea fight with Spaniards, 42 

et seq. 
Sea-Mark, The, Smith's poem, 

190. 
Sea Venture, wreck of the, 167. 
Signal system, Smith's, 11. 
Supplies arrive in two ships, 96. 
Susquehannocks, Smith meets 

the, 129. 

Tragabigzanda, Smith given to 
as slave, 21 et seq. 



194 



INDEX 



Transylvania, war in, 25 et seq. 
Travels, Smith's, in Europe and 

Africa, 39 et seq. 
Trial and acquittal of Smith, 65. 
Tribute to Smith by Richard 

Pots, 188. 
Trouble with newcomers, 167, 
Tymore, bashaw, Smith kills and 

escapes, 35. 

Veristhorne, battle of, 26 et seq. 
Virginia Company, the first, 55 ; 
Smith joins it, 56. 



Waldo, Capt., drowned, 160. 
Werowance, Smith made a, 100. 
White, John, 52. 
Wildfire, Smith's ruse with, 26. 
Willoughby, Lord, Smith serves, 

3- 

Wingfield, Edward Maria, 
chosen president of the col- 
ony, 59 ; deposed, 67. 

Women, three Indian, cause of 
war, 134; two white first in 
the colony, 139. 

Wynne, Capt., 164. 



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